Budget carrier Spirit Airlines has cancelled all flights and begun an “orderly wind-down of operations,” the company said, effective immediately. Passengers were told not to travel to the airport. The airline said it would automatically issue full refunds for tickets bought with a credit or debit card; customers holding Spirit tickets are entitled to full refunds if the carrier ceases operations.
Following the shutdown notice, several major U.S. airlines introduced limited “rescue” fares and other options to help stranded Spirit customers rebook travel. The move aims to alleviate immediate disruption for travelers left without flights.
Industry reports describe Spirit as the first U.S. carrier forced into liquidation linked to the Iran war, after it failed to secure creditor support for a proposed U.S. government bailout. A sharp rise in jet fuel prices during the two-month-old conflict roughly doubled Spirit’s fuel costs, undermining its forecasts and derailing plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection by late spring or early summer.
Spirit had reached terms with lenders that would have supported a bankruptcy exit, but the sudden spike in fuel expenses complicated those arrangements. The carrier’s collapse threatens thousands of jobs and represents a setback for efforts to keep fares low in markets where Spirit competed with larger airlines.
The shutdown was also a political setback for President Donald Trump, who had proposed a $500 million rescue plan for Spirit despite opposition from some advisers and many Republican lawmakers. At its peak, Spirit operated roughly 5% of U.S. flights; no U.S. carrier of that scale has liquidated in about twenty years.