US air carriers on Saturday mobilized to help passengers and crew members stranded by the overnight shutdown of Spirit Airlines, after the low-cost carrier’s last-minute talks with creditors and the White House collapsed.
Spirit, known for its bright yellow planes, succumbed to crushing fuel prices and announced in the early hours that it was “winding down its global operations, effective immediately,” with all flights canceled and customer service no longer available.
US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said that Spirit had a reserve fund set up for customers who bought directly from the airline to get refunds, but people who bought from third-party vendors like travel agents would have to seek refunds from them.
Photo: AFP
United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest were offering US$200 one-way flights for people who had Spirit confirmation numbers and proof of purchase for a limited time, Duffy said.
Some airlines said they would increase the number of flights or schedule larger planes in and out of airports where Spirit had a significant presence, as carriers also sought to support marooned Spirit staff — and hire them.
Spirit has been in and out of bankruptcy since 2024, and the White House was considering a bailout for the airline.
“The recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” the company said in a statement. “With no additional funding available to the company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”
The company had nearly 7,500 employees at the end of last year, according to filings. Unions representing them slammed the failure to reach a deal.
“The pain of this decision will not be felt in boardrooms. It will be felt by pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, dispatchers and ground crews, and by the families and communities that depend on them,” the Air Line Pilots Association said.
Spirit said it was working to get more than 1,300 crew to their home bases and that the final Spirit flight landed at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport from Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Of the potential government bailout, Duffy said that “we often times don’t have half a billion dollars laying around.”
Five Spirit flights were still showing as “on time” on Saturday morning on the departure board in Atlanta. A trickle of passengers who had not heard the news were still showing up.
“What,” said Taylor Nantang as she, her husband and four children arrived for a Saturday afternoon Spirit flight from Atlanta to Miami for a spur-of-the-moment vacation.
The family had driven from Tennessee to the Atlanta airport.
“So the whole airline at every airport is out of business?” Nantang said. “Oh my, that’s crazy.”
US travelers lamented news of the shutdown, saying that the closure of the ultra-low-cost carrier eliminates one of the few air travel options for low-income and working-class Americans.
“They truly were one of the last cheap — ‘get me there as fast and cheap as possible’ — options,” Reddit user AioliUpset7805 wrote on a thread about the airline’s closure. “I’ll miss them.”
Spirit, which had operated commercially since the early 1990s, became known for providing some of the cheapest available flights in exchange for limited luxuries and services. Unlike most US airlines, Florida-based Spirit charged for bottled water and did not provide reclining seats.
While that lack of amenities sometimes became the topic of online memes, many travelers said Spirit cleared the way for Americans on a budget to take family holidays or to visit loved ones living in far-flung parts of the country.
“I can only imagine how many millions of families [there are] out there where vacations are now out of reach,” Reddit user BigBubby305 said, adding that the price difference between Spirit and carriers like Delta and American Airlines was, at times, more than US$1,000 for a set of tickets for their family.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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