The signature yellow jetliners of the failed budget pioneer Spirit Airlines are gone now, with nearly 100 planes reportedly mothballed at desert storage locations awaiting their next assignments. On the south side of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, once the airline’s hometown hub location, it’s largely quiet except for the occasional appearances of planes bearing liveries of lower-profile carriers.
Although the collapse of bankrupt Spirit last month wiped out more than 3,000 aviation jobs in South Florida and disrupted the travel plans of thousands, the rapid response of rival carriers to fill the void appears to be mitigating the business impact on Fort Lauderdale’s airport, which now says it expects its annual passenger count this year to rival the levels of 2025.
Even while the Dania Beach-based discount airline struggled to save itself through Chapter 11 protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Spirit remained the airport’s No. 1 airline in passengers served through the month of April, the latest month for which data is available.
On May 2, the day the airline permanently ceased operations after a failed attempt to secure a federal government bailout, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines, among others, quickly unveiled plans to serve U.S. and foreign destinations once served by Spirit.
A so-called “backfilling” movement by other carriers has continued ever since, according to the Broward County Aviation Department, which answered multiple emailed questions last week from the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the current business landscape at the airport, which is perennially ranked as one of the nation’s top 20 busiest airports.
“We’re forecasting passenger traffic for calendar year 2026 to be relatively flat to [calendar year 2025], which was 32.2 million travelers,” the department said.
For the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the department is projecting that 15.89 million passengers will board planes at the airport, “which reflects adjustments associated with Spirit’s cessation of operations and the anticipated backfilling of flight activity by other carriers.”
That includes a “strong” year-over-year performance by carriers such as JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines from January through April of this year.
The rebound has emerged after Mark Gale, CEO/director of aviation at the airport, wrote in his monthly website letter to the public that May “was a tough month for aviation in South Florida, as our hometown carrier, Spirit Airlines, officially ceased operations after 33 years due to escalating financial troubles exacerbated by rising jet fuel prices.”
“While Spirit had the largest share of passenger traffic at FLL before its demise, other carriers have significantly expanded operations here over the last two years,” he wrote. “Additionally, since its shutdown, airlines, including JetBlue, Allegiant, and Avianca, have shown ongoing interest in new or expanded service at FLL. These new or expanded flights are expected to offset the shortfall from Spirit’s absence.”
Spirit’s terminal space reclaimed
The department said it took roughly a month to retake control of the terminal space leased by Spirit.
“We regained the Spirit exclusive leasehold area on June 1,” the department said. “However, as a reminder, we were able to make non-exclusive space previously used by Spirit [such as gates] available to other airlines immediately following its cessation of operations. Use of exclusively leased space [such as ticket counters and offices] had to be worked out through the bankruptcy process.”
The Broward County Aviation Department is removing signs that once announced the presence of the now defunct Spirit Airlines at the once bustling Terminal 4 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
By the department’s reckoning, Spirit now owes the airport $6 million in back fees since the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time in less than a year in August 2025.
Asked if the unpaid fees have adversely affected the airport’s business, the department said they had not. That’s partly due to strong non-airline revenue from food and beverage operations, retail shops, and on-site car rentals.
The department is now in the process of “de-branding” spaces used by Spirit, removing signs and “reconditioning these spaces for future use by other airlines.”
JetBlue: The new No. 1
No airline seems to have been more aggressive about replacing Spirit than New York-based JetBlue Airways, which has served the airport since that carrier’s inception 30 years ago. Its attempted $3.8 billion takeover bid of Spirit was blocked by a federal judge in 2024 on antitrust concerns raised by the Biden Administration.
Now JetBlue, which has endured its own financial struggles, is positioned to solidify the top spot its takeover target once occupied at the airport.
In what amounted to a public relations full court press, Marty St. George, the airline’s president, recently delivered a keynote appearance at the mid-year meeting of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the economic development arm of Broward County, before an audience of several hundred business and public sector figures.
His message: JetBlue, which frequently occupied second place behind Spirit in passengers served at the airport, plans to operate up to 150 daily flights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood starting early next year. As he spoke at the event last month, the number stood around 100.
“We have very aggressive growth planes for South Florida,” he told the Sun Sentinel. “It’s a full-sized operation for us. For the first time in JetBlue’s history we will have an actual hub” with flights timed to link passenger connections.
“I have great confidence that the airport director and the [county] commissioners will be aligned with us,” he added.
The airport’s aviation department acknowledged it is in “ongoing discussions with JetBlue regarding how and where the increase in flight activity will be accommodated, which will include Terminal 4,” Spirit’s old home.
JetBlue’s expansion move in Fort Lauderdale coincides with the airline’s downsizing in the Greater New York area, a region that management has deemed costly to operate.
Other discounters step up
Spirit’s other rivals in the discount category also have been conspicuous in their additions, essentially upholding the airport’s tradition of being the state’s mainstay for budget carriers.
“Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood has kept its costs low to attract and keep the low-budget airlines,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder and president of Atmosphere Research Group, a Dallas-based market research and advisory firm. “That has turned Fort Lauderdale into South Florida’s value airport.”
Frontier Airlines of Denver, which at one point lost a bidding war with JetBlue to acquire Spirit, is among those carriers in talks with the airport about potential growth opportunities.
“Frontier has grown noticeably at FLL during the past 12 months, increasing from 383,000 departure seats in 2025 to just under a million seats during 2026,” the department said. “The airline has added several new markets during this period, including new nonstop service to Washington Dulles.”
Allegiant Air of Las Vegas has seen significant year-over-year growth, the department said, “going from 735,000 departure seats in 2025 to just under one million seats projected in 2026.”
The airline is introducing new markets from the airport to Pittsburgh, Omaha and Kansas City.
Meanwhile, Breeze Airways, a youngish discounter that marked its fifth anniversary in May, is launching eight new destinations from the airport in July, including service to Tallahassee. The carrier operates more than 300 year-round and seasonal routes to 88 cities in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
Although Southwest Airlines has moved a large block of flights including international operations to Orlando from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the carrier still plans to add flights to several U.S. cities from the Broward County airport at year’s end. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Southwest: End-of-year additions
Texas-based Southwest Airlines, which had dialed back its domineering presence at the airport in favor of growth at Orlando International Airport, said it is planning some additions at year’s end, though they all may not be Spirit-related.
“Our current summer schedule features up to 35 departures on our busiest days at FLL,” spokesman Chris Perry said in an email. “That number climbs later this year as our published schedule features up to 56 Saturday departures in November and December. Our midweek schedule is a little smaller than our Saturday schedule at FLL.”
In 2024, Southwest moved its international service at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood to Orlando International, where the carrier says it has “more connectivity to a larger swath of our network.” Pilots and flight attendants are based in Central Florida, as well as a maintenance operation.
Still, Perry said Southwest’s published schedule for Fort Lauderdale includes an increase of service for later this year and into the early part of 2027.
“We are the top carrier in Florida and intend to continue providing service that connects our Customers across our network to the destinations they want to visit,” he said. Along with service increases on existing routes, the airline is adding flights from Fort Lauderdale to Albany, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; Long Island Islip, New York; Las Vegas, Nevada; Omaha, Nebraska; and Phoenix, Arizona.
Legacy airlines showing growth
Long-time legacy carriers including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines have been fairly quiet in the wake of Spirit’s collapse, though they collectively have shown some growth.
“We remain in close contact with all our airlines, including the legacy carriers regarding potential growth at FLL,” the aviation department said. “American, Delta, and United … have grown an average of 12.2% in seat capacity [year-over-year].”
United, for example, is adding new non-stop service to Los Angeles, making them a competitor with Delta and JetBlue, the latter of which just announced new premium Mint service to California.
Foreign carriers step up
Although international carriers such as El Al Israel, Norse Atlantic and Norwegian have come and gone over the years, the airport has retained Latin-based carriers including Avianca of Colombia, Azul of Brazil, and Copa Airlines of Panama.
Avianca and Copa added service for the World Cup soccer games. Avianca is seeing strong growth this year with a 61% increase in departing seating capacity to cities once served by Spirit, the aviation department said.
“The airline is increasing existing nonstop service to Bogota, Colombia to twice-daily frequency, maintaining its daily service to/from Medellin and adding new flights to Cali and Barranquilla in July from FLL,” the department said. “Both Cali and Barranquilla were previously operated by Spirit and are markets that JetBlue have also announced, beginning in October. These airline moves demonstrate a strong backfill positioning for connectivity between FLL and Colombia.”