Spirit Airlines reports 4,800 job cuts in Florida

Published: May 5, 2026 at 12:34 PM

Spirit Airlines job cuts include 3,200 in South Florida

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Spirit Airlines reported laying off 4,800 people in Florida, including 3,200 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, records show on Tuesday.

The Dania Beach-based company filed an official layoff notice with the FloridaCommerce, the state’s lead agency for workforce. It included cuts at both the Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airports.

The state agency hosted events on Monday and Tuesday at the CareerSource Broward South Center at 7550 Davie Road in Hollywood.

“We didn’t intentionally sell any tickets thinking we weren’t going to be here,” Dave Davis, the Spirit Airlines chief executive officer, told The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “We thought we were going to get the liquidity we needed.”

Spirit Airlines suffered more than $2.5 billion in losses since 2020, and filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and 2025 before a last-minute $500 million government bailout proposal failed. Spirit Airlines flights were grounded by 3 a.m. on Saturday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the airline’s shutdown hours later.

“We have 18,000 people that live in this country that are great people and great employees,” President Donald Trump said about Spirit Airlines employees on April 23 at the White House.

Spirit Airlines employees’ health insurance ended on Saturday. American Airlines and JetBlue Airways offered to help Spirit Airlines pilots and flight attendants who were stranded over the weekend.

Trump and Duffy criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for blocking the $3.8 billion sale of Spirit Airlines to JetBlue in 2024. At FLL, on Monday, JetBlue announced 11 additional locations.

Related records

Spirit Airlines layoff notice in Florida

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