San Francisco Frontiers - US airlines step up as Spirit winds down

Spirit, known for its bright yellow planes, succumbed to crushing fuel prices and announced in the early hours that it was "winding down its global operations, effective immediately," with all flights canceled and customer service no longer available.

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.

- Changing plans -

Florida resident Ramon, 60, said he had planned to visit family in Honduras this week.

He and his son Kevin saw headlines in recent days about Spirit's woes and contacted the airline, but opted not to take a refund offer, as alternative flights were more expensive and there were no immediate signs that the airline would fold.

"I was trying to go today on another airline, but it was like $1,000 a ticket," Ramon told AFP, asking only to be identified by his first name.

The family now says they'll wait for the refund and book a flight in early June.

- Fuel costs -

Launched in 1992, Spirit Airlines became one of the first low-cost carriers in the United States.

Between February 2025 and January 2026, it carried some 28 million passengers, according to government data.

At the same time, it has been limping along since announcing bankruptcy in November 2024 and again in August 2025.

In late February, Spirit said it had reached an "agreement in principle" to restructure its debts and that it expected to emerge from bankruptcy by early summer.

Days later, the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which sent jet fuel prices soaring.

Hopes of a White House bailout began to fade last week as oil prices spiked and creditors were reportedly furious with the stake the government planned to take in the company.

Bradley Akubuiro, a crisis management expert at Bully Pulpit International, said while fuel prices may have been the final nail in the coffin, Spirit was "already in a very difficult position."

"The more lasting consequence is that one of the strongest sources of low-fare pressure in the US market is gone," Akubuiro told AFP.

I.Sanders--SFF