Following the breakdown of Spirit Airlines’ last-minute negotiations with creditors and the White House, US airlines scrambled on Saturday to assist passengers and staff members left stranded by the airline’s overnight shutdown.
Spirit, which is well-known for its vivid yellow aircraft, declared in the wee hours of the morning that it was “winding down its global operations, effective immediately,” with all flights canceled and customer service discontinued due to skyrocketing fuel prices.
Other carriers — including American, Delta, United and JetBlue — moved quickly to scoop up Spirit’s customers, offering what some dubbed “rescue fares” to those waking up with cancelled itineraries.
Some airlines said they would increase the number of flights or schedule larger planes in and out of airports where Spirit had a significant presence.
Carriers also sought to support marooned Spirit staff — and hire them.
Spirit has been in and out of bankruptcy since 2024, and the White House was recently considering a bailout.
“The recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” the company said in a statement.
“With no additional funding available to the company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”
It has promised refunds.
The company had nearly 7,500 employees at the end of last year, according to filings. Unions representing them slammed the failure to reach a deal.
“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 by the families and communities that depend on them,” said the Air Line Pilots Association.
– ‘Like a dog on a bone’ –
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy scrambled to defend the position of President Donald Trump’s administration as a rescue plan never materialized.
“The president was like a dog on a bone trying to figure out a way to keep Spirit afloat,” Duffy told a press conference Saturday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
“In the end, this was a creditor issue. Again, they have the final say of whether they want to do a deal with the government,” he added.
“But also from the government’s perspective, we oftentimes don’t have a half a billion dollars laying around in a spare account that we can put into a bailout of an airline.”
Duffy blamed the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden for blocking a proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in March 2024 — and assured ticket holders that they would get refunds.
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