Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American company which formerly operated as an ultra low cost airline, headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida. As an airline, it operated scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. In 2023, it was the seventh-largest passenger carrier in North America and the region's largest ultra-low-cost carrier before ceasing flight operations on 2 May 2026. Spirit was founded in 1964 as a trucking company that pivoted to operating charter flights in 1983 before finding success by bringing the ultra-low-cost carrier model to the United States, offering very low base fares supplemented by additional fees for nearly every service. This approach allowed it to expand rapidly by attracting price-conscious leisure travelers, but also left it highly sensitive to cost pressures. By the 2020s, its business model came under increasing pressure as the legacy carriers introduced basic economy fares, eroding its price advantage, while labor, aircraft, and operating costs increased. In 2022, Frontier Airlines reached an agreement to acquire Spirit but was outbid by JetBlue; the JetBlue merger was blocked in January 2024 by the Biden administration, leaving Spirit independent but weakened financially. Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2024 and briefly emerged from restructuring in early 2025, but filed for Chapter 11 again in August amid mounting losses and debt. In May 2026, the airline suddenly ceased operations after bailout negotiations with the second Trump administration failed; Spirit said that the sharp rise in jet fuel prices linked to the 2026 Iran war made its low-cost business model unsustainable. Flights ended with little advance notice; operations were halted within a day of the announcement.