things are not Spirit Airlines has been looking good for the last few years. The budget airline, known for its heavy-handed approach to the sky, filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and again in 2025. And yet, its demise on Saturday seemed sudden and shocking: Spirit said it would go out of business, cancel flights, close its customer service lines, and lay off employees without warning.
Why is this happening?
Work on Soul’s demise went on for many years. The company has not made any profit since 2019. Other airlines, including the large and prosperous Delta Airlines and American Airlines, invaded its low-cost sector by unbundling tickets and offering their own cheap, perk-free fares. In 2022, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the proposed merger with JetBlue, arguing that the deal would increase fares for all fliers. In early 2024, after a month-long hearing, a federal judge blocked the merger. Then came two bankruptcies, one in early 2024 and one in the summer of 2025, in which Spirit cut staff, routes and flights in an attempt to save itself.
Finally, the coup: Iran war, the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, and rising fuel prices – which alone accounted for more than 25 percent of the airlines’ operating costs – made operations unsustainable. As lawyers for the airlines filed in court on Monday: “Recent geopolitical events have resulted in substantial and sustained increases in fuel prices. … There is no longer a viable path forward for restructuring or continued operations.”
I have a spirit ticket. What should I do?
Spirit said it is automatically refunding the fare. People who purchased flights through third-party sites should contact those businesses for a refund. But even before a refund, “your biggest concern should be rebooking,” says Katy Nastro, travel expert at flight deal website Going.
Soaring jet fuel prices have already made this upcoming travel season choppy: According to NerdWallet, U.S. tickets are up nearly 15 percent year over year, with some trips — flights to London and Hong Kong, for example, and trips to the U.S. West Coast — even more, Nastro says.
If you have a Spirit ticket, United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest are all offering the highest ticket price for a set period, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are offering lower fares on high-volume Spirit routes, and Allegiant has frozen fares on routes that overlap with Spirit. Frontier is offering up to 50 percent off its base fare for former Spirit passengers for several days.
I do not fly spirit, but I fly. What should I do?
Same advice: Move in early to book, says Nastro. Routes with fewer seats may become especially expensive after Spirit’s implosion. It’s too early to say what impact the Spirit-free aviation business might have on ticket prices, but Nastro says that in the medium term, costs on some routes could increase by 15 to 20 percent.
What happens to the workers?
This weekend, most US airlines offered travel passes and jump seats to stranded Spirit workers to get home. Many have also offered Spirit employees “preferential employment interviews,” according to the DOT.
Ahmed Abdelghani, who studies airline operations as a professor in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s College of Business, predicts that over time, most Spirit employees will find new work in the aviation industry. “The capacity lost by Spirit will be replaced by other airlines,” he says. In other words, other airlines will rush (and have rushed) to fill the flight slots and routes opened up by Spirit’s absence, and they will need workers to help. Nevertheless, some employees may need to transfer to new positions or find work outside the airline business.
In the bankruptcy filing, Spirit proposed retaining 40 employees three months after ceasing operations — far fewer than the 17,000 affected by the shutdown.
What happens to the planes?
Spirit’s planes may not keep their attractive yellow wrappers, but the equipment won’t go to waste. Abdelghani says Spirit flies only the Airbus A320, an aircraft that is “very popular”. Eighty-two of Spirit’s 131-aircraft fleet were leased and will be returned to their lessors; The remaining 49 aircraft owned by the airline will be sold.
What happens to ultra-low fares?
The forecast for cheap rents in the US is less rosy. People loved to complain about Spirit — its money-grubbing approach to baggage fees, its BYO approach to water (it charged more than $4 for a bottle onboard), and its extremely uncomfortable seats. But the airline was one of the few shrinking airlines offering one-way fares under $100. These budget airlines are only able to fly if they can keep their costs low, including labor, maintenance and fuel, says Abdelghani. Now that fuel prices have increased, “you have no other option but to increase the fare.”
In a soul-less world, there is less competition. “If airlines are filling their planes, there’s no justification for lowering prices,” Nastro says.
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