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Thousands of travelers have been left stranded, and numerous employees are without work following the sudden closure of Spirit Airlines, a major low-cost airline in the United States.
“All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and passengers should refrain from heading to the airport,” announced the airline in an official statement.
Across the country, passengers encountered deserted check-in areas at airports, accompanied by notices indicating that all flights were canceled and customer support was no longer available.
Spirit Airlines attributed the shutdown to the surging costs of jet fuel, which have more than doubled since the onset of the Middle East conflict in February, along with “additional pressures on the business,” resulting in 17,000 employees losing their jobs.
“In March 2026, we successfully negotiated a restructuring plan with our bondholders, which would have allowed us to continue operations,” stated Spirit President and CEO Dave Davis.
“However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company.”
Sustaining the business would have required hundreds of millions of dollars the airline “simply does not have and could not procure,” Davis said.
“This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted,” he said.
Spirit’s bankruptcy has sparked concerns other low-cost carriers could be next.
But the airline faced significant challenges before the conflict broke out, including large debt, two bankruptcies within a year and a failed government bailout bid just weeks ago.
After failing to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline filed for bankruptcy in November 2024, having haemorrhaged more than US$2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) since the start of 2020.
Spirit sought bankruptcy protection for the second time in August 2025, reporting $11.2 billion in debts and $11.9 billion in assets.
A major restructure followed, which sought to cut flights and operational costs by furloughing and downgrading pilots and flight attendants.
Spirit told creditors the restructure would allow them to post a net $304 million profit by 2027.
But just six months later, on April 18, the airline asked the US government for an emergency bailout.
Bail-out negotiations with the Trump Administration, reported to be worth $500 million, collapsed in recent days, sparking the airline’s collapse today.
The airline serviced destinations across the US, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.
Around 9000 flights were scheduled until the end of May, according to Cirium analytics, potentially impacting millions of passengers across the month.
Refunds will be processed for impacted customers who booked directly with the airline, Spirit said, while passengers with third-party bookings should contact their travel agent.
“Compensation for Guests who booked flights using any other methods, including a voucher, credit or Free Spirit points, will be determined at a later date,” Spirit said.
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