Pioneering discount carrier Spirit Airlines formally announced an end to more than three decades of flying early Saturday after the U.S. Government and the Dania Beach-based company failed to reach an agreement designed to save the cash-strapped firm and help it emerge from bankruptcy.
“All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and Spirit Guests should not go to the airport,” declared a statement distributed shortly after 2:30 a.m. by Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc., the airline’s parent.
Spirit said it “regretfully” made the decision to end operations “effective immediately.” The last Spirit flight landed in Dallas from Detroit, an Airbus jetliner with a familiar yellow fuselage and black lettered livery bearing the number NK1833.
On its final day, the airline “safely flew more than 50,000 passengers,” a spokesperson said by email. And management was working to transport more than 1,300 crew “safely home to their bases.”
As of 4 a.m. Saturday, the tracking service FlightAware showed 277 or 100% of the airline’s flights cancelled — 85 of them at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where Spirit was the leader in passengers served.
The airline had been operating under Chapter 11 protection of the U.S. Bankruptvy Code since August of last year, and was close to exiting the process until the U.S. war with Iran caused jet fuel prices to spike, plunging the airline into a renewed financial crisis. As the airline ran short of cash, the company turned to the federal government for a rare last-ditch bailout, but no agreement could be reached.
Spirit’s shutdown immediately ended the jobs of most of the carrier’s 17,000 direct and indirect employees who served the airiine in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America. Some of them worked for Spirit for more than 25 years.
What customers should do now
The airline directed travelers to visit https://spiritrestructuring.com for more information about Spirit’s cessation of operations.
The airline’s website, previously a portal for millions who booked domestic and international flights, was suddenly transformed into a going-out-of-business site with the headline, “Spirit Winding Down Operations.”
“To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” a message says. “We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come.”
Spirit said it would “automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment.”
People who booked flights via a travel agent should contact them directly to request a refund.
“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 through the bankruptcy process,” the company said.
Other carriers declared their intentions to help Spirit customers.
Spirit Airlines customers wait in line at the ticket counter at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, May 1, 2026. The airline is preparing for a shutdown after a government bailout failed. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
About an hour after Spirit announced its shutdown, Frontier Airlines of Denver, a perennial, albeit unsuccessful buyout suitor of Spirit, announced “systemwide rescue fare discounts” for stranded Spirit passengers.
It is offering a $199 GoWild All-You-Can-Fly Summer Pass “to support travelers affected by Spirit Airlines’ end of operations.” Information can be found at https://www.flyfrontier.com/deals/gowild-pass/?mobile=true
“Frontier currently serves more than 100 routes previously flown by Spirit and will expand further this summer with nine additional routes, plus 15 additional daily flights across 18 former Spirit markets, giving customers more options to rebook their travel plans with confidence while keeping fares low,” the airline said in a statement.
“Spirit Airlines played an important role in expanding access to affordable travel and bringing more low fares to more people,” said Bobby Schroeter, Frontier’s chief commercial officer. “We recognize this is a difficult time for their customers and team members.”
Other airlines including JetBlue Airways, American and United said they would step in to help.
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International late Friday, Spirit passengers interviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel wondered what types of alternate plans they could make if Spirit’s then-impending closure reported in the media came to pass.
Gorgeous Jacobs, who lives in New Orleans, said she was returning home from a cruise.
Her group’s flight to New Orleans was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Friday, and she encountered news about the pending shutdown while scrolling on Instagram.
”They said they had 24 hours left … I’m glad that we’re flying home today,” Jacobs said. “I love Spirit. It’s kind of unfortunate. We really liked flying with Spirit.”
A Spirit Airlines aircraft sits on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
No financial alternatives
The decision to stop flying came after what the company called “extensive and comprehensive efforts to restructure the business and pursue transactions to strengthen Spirit’s financial position and create a sustainable path forward.”
“Unfortunately, despite the Company’s efforts, the recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” the statement said. “With no additional funding available to the Company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”
“For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry,” said Dave Davis, Spirit’s president and chief executive officer.
Davis was hired in the spring of 2025 to take over the company after it emerged from its first trip into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in March of last year. A veteran executive from budget carrier Sun Country Airlines, he took Spirit back to U.S. Bankruptcy Court last August as the company struggled to stabilize itself, and after a key creditor declared the company in default on aircraft leases.
As recently as this past March, the airline was poised to exit bankruptcy this summer, but the U.S.-Israel war with Iran disrupted the plan by driving jet fuel costs to unmanageable levels.
“In March 2026, we reached an agreement with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business,” Davis said. “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 required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
In what amounted to an 11th-hour appeal, Spirit two weeks ago turned to the U.S. Government for what would have been an unprecedented bailout of a major airline. According to reports, a deal that appeared to have the backing of President Donald Trump called for a $500 million loan that would potentially yield a 90% ownership stake for the government.
Some major Spirit creditors, however, balked at the proposal, reportedly fearing their priority positions for repayment would be compromised. The proposal also was resisted by Republicans who strongly denounced the plan as a bad idea, and by rival airlines that are feeling their own fuel cost pressures.
Since Congress deregulated the industry in 1978, no airline has ever been taken over by the government. But many troubled carriers did visit bankruptcy courts to restructure their finances, be sold to competitors or liquidated.
Spirit Airlines headquarters in Dania Beach on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
In South Florida, several carriers encountered the latter two fates over the last 40-plus years, including Eastern Airlines, which was once the region’s largest corporate employer, Air Florida, an early discount pioneer, and Northeastern International Airways, another discounter which was based in Fort Lauderdale.
More recently, Silver Airways, the Hollywood-based regional carrier that served Florida and the Caribbean for well over a decade, went out of business last June.
“I think other airlines very rightly objected to the government bailing out Spirit,” said Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, an industry consultancy based in Dallas. “The government hasn’t bailed out any airline — including airlines as large as Spirit — since the industry was deregulated.”
Davis thanked the Trump administration for its efforts to save Spirit, “in particular Secretary Howard Lutnick and the U.S. Department of Commerce, for their extraordinary efforts to try to preserve jobs and service across the country, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation for their assistance to minimize the disruption to our Guests in the days and weeks ahead.”
“Many stakeholders have stepped up for Spirit through our restructuring,” he said. “We are grateful to our labor union partners, aircraft lessors, other business partners and our financial stakeholders including Citadel, Cyrus Capital and Ares Management Corp, for working with us on tangible solutions to restructure our business.”
Neither the unions nor the creditors immediately issued any statements as the shutdown unfolded.
Davis credited Spirit’s “relentless” work force “for their tremendous effort during our restructuring.”
“They have tirelessly provided a safe, affordable and award-winning option to the traveling public,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for further details.
South Florida Sun Sentinel Staff Writer Angie DiMichele contributed to this report.