Spirit Airlines has shut down. They have no assets to draw from. They lease their planes, and they don’t own much. It was run like a shell company. I am sorry for customers and employees, but a massive bailout wasn’t in the cards.
They provided a great service for 34 years, and it’s sad. It was an airline with a special service for the American people.
A Great Service for Americans
The ultralow-cost airline once operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed about 17,000 people. They said it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.”
The airline said on its website that all flights have been canceled and customer service is no longer available. Some passengers arrived Saturday for flights and were stunned to find them canceled. Workers learned overnight that they were out of a job.
However, there were many warnings.
“We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our guests for many years to come,” Spirit’s announcement said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday that Spirit had a customer refund fund set up for those who bought directly from the airline. People who bought from third-party vendors, such as travel agents, would have to seek refunds from those vendors.
Duffy told people not to show up at Spirit. No one would be there to assist them.
United, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest were offering $200 one-way flights to people with Spirit confirmation numbers and proof of purchase. It will be for a limited time. Other airlines would also help Spirit employees who might be stranded. Some will offer them a preferential application process as they look for work.
Spirit said in a statement that it was working to get more than 1,300 crew to their home bases.
Goodbye, Spirit.
JUST IN: SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION SEAN DUFFY BLASTS BIDEN, ELIZABETH WARREN OVER BLOCKED SPIRIT–JETBLUE MERGER
Sec Sean Duffy tore into the Biden administration and Elizabeth Warren for blocking the Spirit–JetBlue merger in 2024, arguing the move destroyed a lifeline for the… pic.twitter.com/mVltpm52XS
— Sergeant News Network (@sgtnewsnetwork) May 2, 2026