Spirit Airlines ceases operations after escalating financial struggles

Spirit Airlines has announced it will cease operations. The ultra-low-cost carrier has struggled for years and filed for bankruptcy twice since 2024. Spirit had sought a bailout from the Trump administration. Mario Tama/ hide caption toggle caption Mario Tama/ WASHINGTON — Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines , which had been struggling for years, announced it will cease operations. Spirit had been seeking a $500 million federal bailout from the White House. But those talks failed to yield a deal, leading the airline no choice but to stop flying "effective immediately". "It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately," the airline said in a statement early Saturday. "[A]ll flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. 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, based in South Florida, had been under mounting financial pressure due to the war in Iran , which sent the price of jet fuel soaring . But its problems ran deeper than that. The No. 9 U.S. airline (based on seats ) faced increased competition from its larger rivals, which adopted some of the same strategies that had made Spirit successful in the first place. …