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Spirit, of Miramar, Fla., said Indigo Partners LLC, of Phoenix, is taking a controlling interest from Oaktree Capital Management LLC, previously the airline's largest investor, in order to help fund its expansion.

Oaktree took control of Spirit with an initial $125 million investment in 2004, and then last year provided most of another $100 million in financing, with the participation of an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

B. Ben Baldanza, Spirit's president and chief executive, said that Oaktree would continue its role as an investor in Spirit but that the addition of Indigo brought additional airline experience to Spirit. William A. Franke, managing partner of Indigo Partners and a former chairman and chief executive of America West Airlines, has been named chairman of Spirit.

Spirit, which reported an $8.3 million loss in the first quarter, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data, is retiring its fleet of older aircraft and by early September will have a new fleet of Airbus planes.

The 13-year-old airline formerly flew routes mostly from the Midwest and Northeast to Florida and now is trying to carve out a niche linking key markets in Florida and the northern U.S. to high-traffic destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

AP PolkOnline