Spirit Airlines canceled all flights and is going out of business

 

A Spirit Airlines flight arrives at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 23. The discount airline is set to announce it is halting all flights as of 3 am ET Saturday. 

Marco Bello/Reuters

Spirit Airlines, the pioneering discount airline that shook up the budget travel business, is shutting down its operations.

The company is in its second bankruptcy and was in serious financial trouble well before the Iran war sent jet fuel prices surging. America’s eighth-largest carrier tried to reach a deal with the Trump administration on an 11th-hour rescue package, but a key group of creditors balked at the proposal.

Spirit is the first major US airline in 25 years to go out of business because of financial problems. Its demise has stranded millions of passengers: Spirit canceled all flights, shut down its customer service and instructed customers not to go to the airport. Customers with Spirit tickets will be issued refunds, and they have been instructed to rebook travel on other carriers.

“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 in a statement. “It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.”

The decision will put 17,000 workers out of a job, including 14,000 Spirit employees and thousands of contractors and other people whose jobs depend on Spirit. Eliminating the airline’s flights will also probably result in higher fares across the entire US airline industry.

Stranded passengers

Passengers holding Spirit tickets will have to scramble to make other travel arrangements.

In a note to its customers, Spirit said it is not able to help rebook flights to another airline, but it will automatically issue refunds to passengers who bought tickets through Spirit with a credit or debit card. Passengers who booked flights via a travel agent “should contact the travel agent directly to request a refund,” Spirit said.