Spirit Airlines, known for its bright yellow planes, announced early Saturday that it was “ceasing its global operations effective immediately,” all flights were canceled and customer service was no longer available.
After last-minute negotiations with creditors and the White House collapsed, the low-cost carrier succumbed to crushing fuel prices. The overnight shutdown of Spirit Airlines left thousands of passengers and hundreds of crew members stranded.
“Recent substantial increases in oil prices and other business pressures have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” said a statement from the company, which is in and out of bankruptcy by 2024; The White House was considering $500 million in aid.
Launched in 1992, Spirit Airlines was one of the first low-cost carriers in the US. According to official data, it transported over 28 million passengers from February 2025 to January 2026.
Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis apologized to passengers whose flights were canceled. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Davis said, “We deliberately didn’t sell any tickets because we thought we weren’t going to be here… We thought we’d get the liquidity we needed.”
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Davis said the carrier was trying to avoid chaos during the shutdown and had no intention of harming its passengers. Spirit began by canceling some flights late Friday evening before ending the red eye, a move meant to keep planes on the ground and crew members checking into their hotels when the airline announced it was shutting down operations, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
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Management decided on Saturday that it was time to quit to avoid canceling flights on a busier travel day. The shutdown announcement could not have been made far enough in advance because it would have led to even more chaos—vendors could stop providing service, crews could stop showing up, planes could be scattered in foreign countries, and frustrated customers would vent their anger on airport gate agents.
“The calming down has to be proper. The only way to do that is to do it all at once,” Davis said.
Customers who booked flights through Spirit using credit cards are set to receive refunds automatically
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An initial group of about 150 employees will help close the store, including the return home of more than 1,000 crew members.
In the coming months, Spirit’s remaining aircraft and aircraft parts, along with its headquarters and other properties, will be sold to repay creditors.
The others are not left behind
When Davis joined the airline last year, he was tasked with getting the airline back on a solid footing after its merger with JetBlue was blocked and a previous bankruptcy failed to resolve some major issues.
But the Iran war has sent jet fuel prices soaring, adding tens of millions of dollars a month in expenses and clouding Spirit’s future. Some industry insiders say it’s always going to end this way for Spirit.
But Davis said Spirit’s plan would have worked if not for skyrocketing fuel prices. He also believes his airline is not the only one at risk.
“Everybody’s burning money – we had a smaller pile to start with,” he said. “They’re not that far behind us in the race.
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The White House’s response
“The president was like a dog on a bone trying to figure out a way to keep Spirit afloat. In the end, it was a creditor problem. But also from the government’s point of view, we often don’t have half a billion dollars sitting around to save the airline,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the media.
He blamed the Joe Biden administration for blocking the proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in March 2024 and assured ticket holders that they would get a refund.
Disabled passengers, crew
While Spirit promised refunds to its customers, other airlines — including American, Delta, United and JetBlue — mobilized to help stranded passengers and crew members.
They offered what some called “rescue fares” to those waking up with canceled itineraries.
United Airlines said it would help customers book more than 14,000 tickets in 12 hours, though some airlines said they would increase the number of flights or schedule larger planes to and from airports where Spirit has a significant presence. Carriers have also been trying to support — and hire — Spirit employees who left.
The company had nearly 7,500 employees at the end of last year, according to filings. The unions representing them criticized the failure to reach an agreement.
“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 the families and communities that depend on them,” the Airline Pilots Association said.
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