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TAMPA, Fla. (NewsNation) — As tensions with Iran escalate, airfares are already on the rise, and the recent collapse of Spirit Airlines might further inflate ticket prices due to the loss of a major budget airline.
Although Spirit Airlines was often the butt of jokes and earned a reputation as “America’s most hated airline,” its affordable fares played a crucial role in keeping overall airline prices competitive.
Clint Henderson, managing editor at “The Points Guy,” shared with NewsNation that travelers should brace for an increase in airfare, noting that prices on many routes could spike “almost immediately.”
“Low-cost carriers are vital for maintaining competitive airfare,” Henderson explained. “With fewer airlines in the market, prices are likely to climb.”
Studies on the “Spirit effect” have shown that the presence of ultra-low-cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier pushes other airlines to offer more competitive low fares.
Budget carriers are a key reason major airlines introduced no-frills “basic economy” fares over the past decade, as they tried to compete on price.
Spirit’s collapse comes as airlines raise checked baggage fees and trim schedules amid higher jet fuel costs — and with one less low-cost option, travelers may have a harder time avoiding higher fares.
Airfares were about 15% higher in March from a year earlier, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.
As of April 27, the average domestic round-trip fare cost $365, up roughly $70 from the same day a year earlier, according to data from travel search engine Kayak.
Where could airfares jump the most?
Spirit’s absence will hit consumers hardest in markets where the airline had a major presence, including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Las Vegas and Detroit, Henderson said.
He pointed to Spirit’s exit from Minneapolis in December as a recent example, noting Delta raised prices almost immediately.
A Business Insider analysis of data from the aviation analytics company Cirium found that airfares rose about 14%, or around $19 on average, across the roughly 90 routes Spirit exited in 2024 and 2025.
By contrast, in cities where Spirit continued to operate, airfares rose about 6% to 7%, or roughly $8 to $10.
But markets aren’t static, and carriers are already moving in to fill the gap left by Spirit. JetBlue, for example, plans to add 11 destinations from Fort Lauderdale, while budget carrier Breeze Airways is adding routes from Atlantic City.
Those moves could help offset some of the impact of Spirit’s exit.
It’s a familiar dynamic as Spirit’s footprint has diminished in recent years. The airline had about 12,000 scheduled flights in April, down from roughly 25,000 two years earlier, according to Cirium data cited by the New York Times.
Spirit’s flights accounted for 1.8% of the domestic air-travel market when it closed, down from a peak of more than 5% in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported.