Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has officially ceased all operations effective immediately, the Dania Beach, Florida-based airline announced in a statement.
The official Spirit Airlines website now redirects to spiritrestructuring.com.
“It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately,” the carrier said in an online statement early Saturday morning. “To our Guests: all flights have been canceled, 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.”
According to CNN, “Spirit faced severe financial difficulties and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice. Rising jet fuel prices derailed Spirit’s plans to emerge from its second bankruptcy. Efforts to reach a deal with the Trump administration on an 11th-hour rescue package that was also acceptable to a key group of creditors proved unsuccessful Friday.”
It unsuccessfully attempted to merge with Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Approximately 17,000 jobs will be affected by the shutdown.
“For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry,” Dave Davis, Spirit Airlines President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. “In March 2026, we reached an agreement with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business. However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted. I want to thank the Administration, in particular Secretary Howard Lutnick and the U.S. Department of Commerce, for their extraordinary efforts to try to preserve jobs and service across the country, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation for their assistance to minimize the disruption to our Guests in the days and weeks ahead. Many stakeholders have stepped up for Spirit through our restructuring. We are grateful to our labor union partners, aircraft lessors, other business partners and our financial stakeholders including Citadel, Cyrus Capital and Ares Management Corp, for working with us on tangible solutions to restructure our business. Most of all, we are grateful to our relentless Spirit team for their tremendous effort during our restructuring. They have tirelessly provided a safe, affordable and award-winning option to the traveling public.”
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the airline had a market share of 3.4%.
The airline will process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card and has advised customers that booked flights via a travel agent to contact their travel agent to request refunds. Compensation for passengers that booked flights with other methods including loyalty points will be determined at a later date.
The last American airline to cease operations abruptly was Midway Airlines, which did so in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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