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These are the average flight prices when Spirit flew a route. And these are the prices of those same routes after Spirit stopped flying them. All of the fairs went up, some by more than $100. Now, with all of Spirit's routes gone, imagine how much fairs are going to rise in the US. For 34 years, Spirit Airlines sold fairs as cheap as $39 to Florida and Chicago. At its peak in the mid2010s, it was the largest lowcost carrier in North America, employing 17,000 people. It was the Spirit effect. Its rock bottom fairs pushed ticket prices down across the industry. But in May 2026, Spirit shuttered all operations. 9,000 flights were cancelled
and employees were left scrambling with little information. Spirit flight has now been cancelled. Now we have 175 Ohioans really pissed. So how did Spirit become a lowcost giant? What happened to the airline? And what does all of this mean for passengers and crews? Spirit Airlines started out in 1964 as a trucking company moving car parts in Michigan. In 1983, Ned Homefeld launched the company's first passenger airline in Detroit, calling it Charter 1. It focused on gambling trips with routes to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and later to warmer gambling routes in Florida and Vegas. In 1992, it finally became Spirit Airlines, adding four DC9 jets to its fleet. Spirit was small, but it gained early momentum with cheap fairs. In
1993, it flew more than a quart million passengers and generated $21 million in revenue. You have to understand that flying didn't start out as a thing for the masses. Southwest pioneered the lowcost model back in the 1970s and unlocked travel for so many people. And then decades later, Spirit took it to another level. In 2004, Spirit adopted an ultra lowcost business model, which meant you got a personal item and an unassigned seat, and that's it. Everything else was extra. Snacks, leg room, baggage, printing your boarding pass, even water. And that was all extra cash in Spirit's pocket. CEO Ben Baldanza took over in 2006 and leaned even further into the airlines lowcost
branding. He made the seats thinner and packed more passengers onto the airplane. And he also endorsed the brand's controversial ads like this one after the Deep Horizon oil spill in 2010. for this ad, a tongue-in-cheek reference to people's interest in older women. The controversial ads, they had shock value. They weren't going after high class travelers. They were going after gamblers and spring breakers. These ads worked for their workingclass audience. At its peak in the mid2010s, Spirit Airlines had 200 planes and was valued at $6 billion. It had among the best safety records with no fatal crashes in its entire history. At one point, it was rated second in timeliness. People love to hate on Spirit's nickel and
diamonding, but it had a big influence on the industry. There was such a big appetite for low fars in the United States that America's biggest airlines felt threatened by Spirit. In the 2010s, Delta and American, much bigger and older airlines, started adding super cheap basic economy fairs to compete with Spirit. But soon the cheapkate identity that had led to Spirit's early success weighed it down. Everything started to unravel after the pandemic. First, labor costs soared amid a pilot shortage. And postco, travelers were increasingly more willing to pay for premium experiences, and Spirit just couldn't offer that. Business travelers
wanted first class seats and access to airport lounges. The average flyer now wanted free carryons, more leg room, and seatback screens included in the ticket price. Now, Spirit did try to adapt. It added extra leg room and refreshed Big Front Seat, its version of First Class. It bundled fairs to simplify add-ons like seat selection and baggage. But despite its efforts, it couldn't shake the lowcost identity it had spent so many years building. They were essentially a Waffle House trying to be a Michelin star restaurant. They weren't built for the clientele that largely goes to Delta United. Then among economic uncertainty and inflation, demand for domestic travel began to slow. Spirit's normal, price sensitive
customers were spending less on travel. People who could afford to travel shifted internationally, especially to Europe. That was good for carriers like Delta that offered longhaul business class. Those seats cost thousands of dollars and make up a majority of a flight's revenue. But Spirit just didn't have those routes and so it couldn't capture that premium revenue. In four years, the airline lost $2.5 billion. In 2022, JetBlue tried to buy Spirit Airlines, but 2 years later, a federal judge blocked the deal, ruling it violated antirust laws. So, in November 2024, Spirit Airlines went bankrupt. It did unload debt, coming out with a much cleaner balance sheet. But right after
it faced soaring jet fuel prices and high aircraft lease costs. So in August 2025, with over $8 billion in debt, it declared bankruptcy again. Spirit slashed routes, shrink its network, sold planes, and cut its staff just to stay afloat. Spirit flew 500,000 fewer travelers in February 2026 compared to the year before. In a final Hail Mary, Spirit Airlines was in talks with the Trump administration about a $500 million bailout package. We're thinking about doing it, helping them out, and meaning bailing them out or buying it. I think we just buy it. Trump wanted to use Spirits planes to move military and cargo troops. His proposal would have basically given the
government control over Spirit. But the government couldn't find the funding and the talks stalled. On May 2nd, 2026, Spirit Airlines closed completely. Spirit Airlines is going out of business. Flights were cancelled overnight. Thousands of people were stranded and 1.8 million summer travelers were affected. Your flight has now been cancelled. Currently stuck in the Orlando airport trying to get home. Now we have 175 Ohioans. Really pissed. So, this is the line and they're rebooking you on flights for tomorrow that will not take
place because the company will not exist tomorrow. This is the chaos that is left over. Spirit has kept funds on hand in case this happened. So, it is refunding everyone who booked directly with the airline. But what does all of this mean for the airline industry going forward? Well, for one, passengers can expect flight prices to go up. I've heard a lot of chatter online from folks saying that Spirit's route closures won't affect them, but even if you fly at the highest levels, it will affect you because Spirit was the pressure point that kept fairs low. Senior aviation reporter Taylor Reigns found that in most cases when Spirit Airlines left a route, flight prices went up on average by 14%. Budget and price sensitive customers, they can
still book with Alleion or Frontier. There's also a Vell and Breeze. These are lowcost carriers, but without Spirit, there are just fewer options. This comes at a time when ultra luxury cabins are overtaking budget ones. Rich people, they aren't as affected by the economic downturn that has been affecting most people's wallets, including mine. So, even if gas is $5 a gallon, the millionaires are still going to fly. Taylor says we can expect to see more investment on international long haul flights from US airlines.
This is already happening. United and Delta, even American, they've all rolled out brand new business class cabins with doors, all the bells and whistles to try to attract that premium demand, really doubling down, and that's where Spirit just couldn't keep up. It didn't have that product to match, and that's what the people wanted. But while travelers might have to shell out a little more for a plane ticket, Spirit Airlines employees will face the worst financial stress. These people have already set their ways into their finances. They already set their budget and now their lifestyle is going to change.
Yananisha Thomas was at home in Central Florida when she got an email at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday saying spirit was shutting down. Basically, it just felt like a breakup. It felt like me being in a relationship and my boyfriend was cheating on me and basically I was the only one that didn't know about it. Yisha has been with Spirit for 4 years. It's like a family or it's your home and now your home is burnt down and you have to start from the ground. These people have not been into an interview in years. And working for a new airline might mean
starting from the bottom. I do go ahead and say, "Okay, I'm going to try and get a job with United." I still have to go to the training which is 4 weeks. Some of the training are not paid. I have to learn a whole entire new plane. That is why everyone is crying. Spirit sauce is more than an airplane seat. It's the entire towns in Florida where Spirit was largely the only way to get there. So all of the communities employees that were in that town that supported the operation, that's all gone. You pay for what you want. So it might not work for everyone. Fine. But we are here for the people that need us. I know now a lot of people need us. In the wake of the Spirit announcement, a Tik Tok
video went viral, hoping to save the airline. Okay, I had a genius idea. Spirit Airlines just went bankrupt, right? We could buy Spirit Airlines. In just a few days, pledges have topped over $130 million. Now, the movement is backed by Spirit Airlines Union. We've got your back, too. So, by all means, I don't believe we're dead because the people are keeping us alive. I love the effort and I agree that spirit is worth saving strictly for the competition that keeps fairs low, but it was heavily in debt. There are a lot of regulations, rest rules, pilot. There's so much to running an airline that I think it may be a little more complicated than just a lot of commitments to funding this airline.
All of this raises the question, what's the future of budget airlines in the US? If the largest can't survive, who can? with soaring jet fuel prices due to the conflict in Iran, budget carriers are being hit really, really hard. Spirit even said in its recent hearings after its closure that was kind of the nail in the coffin. And Spirit, unlike legacy carriers, doesn't have these premium high dollar business and first class cabins to fall back on. But do I think other budget carriers like Frontier or Allegiant will fall tomorrow? No. But I do think they have a tough road ahead of them. In fact, Frontier stock rose after the Spirit announcement and JetBlue announced $99 fairs to Florida. I think there will
always be some need for some airline out there to offer budget seats. It may just be more expensive.
