President Donald Trump said he was considering a taxpayer-backed plan for Spirit Airlines as the airline navigates its second bid to restructure under Chapter 11 and seeks financing that could allow it to emerge from bankruptcy.
Trump made the remarks Thursday at an Oval Office event not related to Spirit, saying he was weighing a taxpayer-funded takeover and that he would aim to resell the airline after oil prices fall. He said he wanted to preserve jobs tied to the low-cost carrier, adding that the airline has “good aircraft and good assets,” and that “when the prices of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,” according to his comments as reported by The Associated Press.
Trump’s remarks also reflected a continuing interest in offering Spirit a financial lifeline after Spirit’s case moved through U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In that proceeding, the airline’s lawyer, Marshall Huebner of Davis Polk, told the court that Spirit was in advanced talks with the U.S. government on a financing deal that would help it emerge from Chapter 11 protection, AP reported.
Trump’s comments followed speculation that has circulated since Tuesday, when he encouraged a buyer to rescue Spirit and suggested the federal government could help keep it afloat. The administration under President Joe Biden had previously attempted to block Spirit’s planned acquisition by JetBlue Airways in a lawsuit filed in 2023, and a federal judge in Dallas later blocked the proposed merger, saying it would drive up airfares.
On Thursday, Trump also said he had “a smart person” in mind who could potentially run Spirit and argued the airline could return to a stronger financial position. He further pointed to Spirit’s airport slots—scheduled times allocated for airlines to take off or land at busy airports when demand exceeds capacity—saying they were “pretty valuable.”
Spirit has struggled with losses for years and first filed for Chapter 11 in November 2024, later returning to bankruptcy in August 2025. AP reported that creditors raised doubts about the airline’s viability earlier this month, including as the Iran-related conflict has driven up jet fuel costs for airlines.
At the same time, the terms under discussion have not been publicly disclosed. In AP’s report, Huebner said details of a potential deal were shared with Spirit’s three main creditor groups, and the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported an amount of $500 million and described the possibility that the government could have an option to acquire a sizable stake.
Critics also pushed back on the idea of government involvement. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a CBS interview that aired Tuesday night, questioned whether the government stepping in would create a precedent for other airlines and said, “Then who else comes to my door?” Duffy also asked whether saving Spirit would mean placing “good money into a company that inevitably is going to be liquidated,” AP reported.
Several lawmakers, including Republicans and Democrats, also criticized the plan. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on X that a deal for Spirit would be a “terrible idea,” while Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas posted that if Spirit’s creditors or other investors did not think they could run the airline profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, he doubted the U.S. government could, describing it as “not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”
The pilots’ union, however, voiced support for a rescue deal. Capt. Ryan P. Muller, chair of the Spirit Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council, said in a statement that “Spirit is the reason so many Americans can afford to visit family, travel for work, or take a vacation,” adding that “When Spirit enters a market, fares go down.”
Spirit’s relative fleet age has made it an attractive target, but previous buyout attempts by budget rivals including JetBlue and Frontier did not succeed before or during its first bankruptcy, AP reported.