Spirit Airlines says it is going out of business after 34 years

Spirit Airlines closes after 34 years, citing higher oil prices

Spirit Airlines said Saturday that it has gone out of business after 34 years, announcing what it called an orderly wind-down of operations effective immediately. The ultralow-cost carrier, known for bright-yellow aircraft and deep-discount fares, said all flights were canceled and that customer service was no longer available.

The company tied the shutdown to “higher oil prices,” and said it could not keep operating amid rising costs that it linked to the broader conflict involving Iran. Spirit said passengers could expect refunds, but it warned there would be no help in booking travel on other airlines.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Trump administration had considered a government bailout to keep the carrier from going under, but that no deal was reached. Duffy also pointed to the lack of available funding, saying the administration “we often times don’t have half a billion dollars laying around.”

Duffy said Spirit had set up a reserve fund for customers who bought directly from the airline so they could seek refunds. He said travelers who purchased through third-party vendors, such as travel agents, would have to seek refunds from those sellers rather than from Spirit.

Spirit said it was working to get more than 1,300 crew members to their home bases, and it described the last flight as landing at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The airline did not offer a direct path for passengers to rebook, limiting immediate options to refund processes and relief efforts that other carriers and the government said they would provide.

Passengers arrive to canceled flights; airlines prepare limited alternatives

Some passengers who had expected to fly on Saturday learned their flights were canceled after arriving at airports, while other schedules appeared to remain active earlier. Five Spirit flights were still showing as “on time” on a departure board in Atlanta on Saturday morning, according to the report, while a trickle of passengers kept showing up after the shutdown announcement.

Taylor Nantang, arriving with her husband and four children for a Saturday afternoon flight from Atlanta to Miami for a spur-of-the-moment vacation, said the situation did not make sense to her. “What!?” she asked, according to the account, after learning the airline was out of business at every airport and that Spirit would not be operating.

Another traveler, Joshua Sigler, said he had bought a ticket Friday for a Saturday flight to Miami and that after learning of the cancellation he planned to return home rather than try to use deals that other airlines were offering to stranded Spirit passengers. He said he had received no communication from Spirit.

The airline’s shutdown also left questions about refund timing and phone support. Other passengers in the report said they wondered whether Spirit would answer customer service lines and when refunds would arrive on their cards.

Duffy and other carriers offer help for stranded travelers

Duffy said United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest were offering $200 one-way flights to people who had Spirit confirmation numbers and proof of purchase for a limited time. He also said other airlines would help Spirit employees who might be stranded, and would provide preferential application processes as they sought new jobs.

The government’s description of the approach reflected the administration’s earlier discussions. The cluster reported that President Donald Trump had floated the idea of a bailout after Spirit found itself again in bankruptcy proceedings, with jet fuel costs rising amid the Iran-related conflict that has pushed energy prices higher.

How the shutdown played out for workers and former employees

Former Spirit flight attendant Freddy Peterson said he was on a Spirit flight from Detroit that arrived in Newark around 11 p.m. Friday and that, at the time, conditions seemed normal. He said the aircraft were packed and that he did not see indications of an imminent shutdown before Saturday morning.

Peterson, 60, said he set an alarm for 3 a.m. Saturday to check the company website after rumors circulated online and that he learned all Spirit flights were canceled. He said Delta brought him and another flight attendant back to Atlanta, and that he then drove home to Shellman in southwest Georgia.

Peterson, who said he had been with Spirit for 10 years, described the airline’s customer experience as largely deserved despite its reputation for chaos, and he said management’s communication with employees in the closing days had been lacking, including a promised employee town hall that he said was canceled.

What led to Spirit’s bankruptcy and second wind-down

The shutdown came amid repeated financial strain and insolvency proceedings. Spirit had previously sought bankruptcy protection twice, and it filed for Chapter 11 protection in November 2024 after losing more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020, according to the report.

The cluster also said Spirit sought bankruptcy protection again in August 2025, reporting it had $8.1 billion in debts and $8.6 billion in assets, based on court filings. At the time, supporters of rescue efforts—including labor unions representing Spirit’s pilots, flight attendants and ramp workers—argued that a collapse would affect jobs and reduce airline competition.

In the account, Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner said about 17,000 jobs could be impacted. The report also said the absence of Spirit would be especially felt by budget-conscious and leisure travelers in areas where the carrier had a larger footprint, including Las Vegas and Florida cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

As passengers and workers absorbed the immediate effects, the report also described political dispute over responsibility for Spirit’s situation. The White House had previously blamed the Biden administration, and on Saturday the Transportation Secretary attributed blame both to Biden and to his predecessor Pete Buttigieg, while a policy analyst at the Cato Institute described the crisis as reflecting a chain reaction of policy missteps that drove up jet fuel prices and operating costs.