By Jennifer Michels and Andrew Compart
Aviation Week

Spirit Airlines, which has suspended flights since its pilots went on strike June 12, will resume service Friday June 18 now that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association.

Its ALPA members must still ratify the contract in a vote that will not be held until sometime in July.

Spirit President and CEO Ben Baldanza said, “Our pilots worked hard to get a mutually favorable deal that allows the company to grow while improving their wages and benefits. We apologize to those of our customers whose travel was disrupted as a result of the strike and look forward to earning back their trust with ultra-low fares, great service, and the best pilots in the sky.

To lure back customers, the airline is offering $50 off tickets booked on spiritair.com by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 18, which is valid only on new, non-refundable roundtrip tickets for travel until Nov. 17. It also is offering 5,000 bonus miles.

ALPA and Spirit management had been in continuous mediation since 1 p.m. June 15 and, with the help and suggestions of the National Mediation Board, was able to reach the tentative agreement, the ALPA Master Executive Council said.

The agreement comes after four years of talks in which the pilots were unhappy about their pay compared with competitors JetBlue and AirTran. The NMB released the two parties from mediated bargaining on May 12, which started the 30-day cooling-off period that ended at 12:01 a.m. on June 12.

"Our leadership strongly believes that this is the fair and affordable agreement that our pilots asked for back in 2007 when we started negotiations with the company," said Sean Creed, head of the Spirit ALPA MEC.

Details of the agreement will be revealed to Spirit pilots during roadshows over the next two weeks.