Spirit Airlines is facing legal challenges over its plan to sell a massive dataset to Google during bankruptcy proceedings. Vendors, including Springshot and International Aero Engines, argue the sale includes their proprietary intellectual property, trade secrets, and confidential financial data without consent.
Springshot, which provided airline logistics software for three years, claims the sale agreement uses vague definitions that could encompass its own technology. The company is urging the court to mandate a forensic process to identify and segregate third-party assets before any data transfer occurs.
The sale also faces opposition from labor unions representing former Spirit employees. Concerns center on the potential exposure of 80 000 email accounts, 100 million emails, 20 million SharePoint documents, and 500 million Teams messages, which could be ingested by Google’s AI models.
The Air Line Pilots Association warned that the sale could compromise flight safety by exposing confidential incident reports. They argue that if pilots fear their data might be sold to third parties, they may stop participating in voluntary safety reporting programs.
AI training lab Micro1 recently submitted a competing bid of $12,5 million, which is 25 percent higher than Google’s offer. Despite this, the bid does not guarantee the segregation of proprietary vendor data, and the bankruptcy court is scheduled to review all objections on September 16.
