ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The crowd of pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers broke away from their hugs and tears to march en masse up to the Orlando International Airport fence.<\/p>\n
Some furiously checked their phones. Others craned their necks and held their cameras at the ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere it is!\u201d one of the flight attendants shouted, pointing through the trees.<\/p>\n
Engines roared. The front wheel of the banana-yellow Spirit Airlines plane lifted off, followed by the back wheels and the screams from the crowd below.<\/p>\n
After the plane left the crowd\u2019s line of sight, employees began crying and hugging again \u2013 overcome by the symbolic nature of what they had just saw: the collapse of the airline, their decades-long careers departing with them looking from afar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was sad to see it go, and I\u2019m not in it,\u201d 25-year flight attendant Vicky Komsky said. \u201cThis chapter of my life is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
The departure of the aircraft \u2013 and a second one \u2013 was a surprise and total coincidence for the hundreds of employees who planned to meet outside their former office building since hours after Spirit Airlines fell apart.<\/p>\n
The point of the meeting was to give themselves closure. Word of the shut down came through in the early hours of the morning, when many of them were asleep.<\/p>\n
There was never a time to say goodbye until Wednesday \u2013 when they said it in more ways than they bargained for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can speak for most of us when I say this is the greatest job that we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Captain Danny Khund said.<\/p>\n
However, the employees allowed themselves to feel a small sliver of hope in their mourning. Faced with months of unemployment and the loss of seniority, they\u2019ve been eyeing the Spirit 2.0 campaign organized on social media.<\/p>\n
The campaign\u2019s organizers said their goal is to buy out Spirit Airlines\u2019 creditors and run the airline in the same way the Green Bay Packers are structured.<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday, they claimed to have more than $200 million in verified pledges with the goal of raising $1.75 billion.<\/p>\n
The campaign has caught the imaginations of the ex-employees, who said they\u2019d gladly return to work if given the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just giving me a little something to hold on to and to wish and dream that maybe I can get my family back,\u201d Flight Attendant Angela Urbina said, reminiscing over the \u201ctrauma bonding,\u201d she would do with her coworkers while eating meals over trash cans during a 5-day trip.<\/p>\n
However, the employees said they were already looking for opportunities with different airlines, even if that meant starting from the bottom of the seniority ladder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever hires me now, that\u2019s where I belong to,\u201d Komsky said. \u201cI need a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
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