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Others not far behind: Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis as carrier succumbs to soaring fuel costs amid US-Iran war
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Spirit Airlines, known for its bright yellow planes, announced in the wee hours on Saturday that it was "winding down its global operations, effective immediately," with all flights canceled and customer service no longer available.After its last-minute talks with creditors and the White House collapsed, the low-cost carrier succumbed to crushing fuel prices. The overnight shutdown of Spirit Airlines left thousands of passengers and hundreds of crew members stranded."The recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit's financial outlook," read a statement from the company, which has been in and out of bankruptcy since 2024; the White House was considering a $500 million bailout.Launched in 1992, Spirit Airlines was one of the first low-cost carriers in the US. It carried over 28 million passengers between February 2025 and January 2026, according to official data.Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis apologised to passengers whose flights were being cancelled. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Davis said, “We didn’t intentionally sell any tickets thinking we weren’t going to be here…We thought we were going to get the liquidity we needed.”Spirit’s last day: How it went down?Davis said the carrier tried to avoid shutdown chaos and didn’t intend to harm its passengers. Spirit began by canceling certain late-evening flights on Fridays and then terminated the red-eyes — a move to ensure the planes were on the ground and crew members checked into their hotels when the airline announced it had ceased operations, as per the report in The Wall Street Journal.Executives decided upon Saturday as the time to call it quits, to avoid ending flights on a busier travel day. The shutdown announcement could not be made well in advance as it would have led to more chaos—vendors might stop providing services, crews could stop showing up, aircraft could be scattered in foreign countries, and frustrated customers would vent their anger to airport gate agents.“The wind-down has to be orderly. The only way to do that is to do it all at once,” Davis said.Customers who booked flights through Spirit using credit cards are set to receive refunds automaticallyAn initial group of about 150 employees will help close up shop, including getting over 1,000 crew members back home.In the coming months, Spirit’s remaining planes and aircraft parts will be sold, along with its headquarters and other real estate to repay creditors.Others not far behindWhen Davis joined the airline last year, his task was to get the airline on a firm footing after its merger with JetBlue was blocked and a previous bankruptcy hadn’t addressed some big problems.But the war in Iran sent jet-fuel prices soaring, adding tens of millions of dollars a month in expenses and clouding Spirit’s future. Some industry officials argue it was always going to end this way for Spirit.Davis said, however, that Spirit’s plan would have worked, if not for surging fuel costs. He also believes his airline isn’t the only one in jeopardy.“Everybody is burning cash—we just had a smaller pile to start with,” he said. “They’re not that far behind us in the race.”White House response"The president was like a dog on a bone trying to figure out a way to keep Spirit afloat. In the end, this was a creditor issue. But also from the government's perspective, we often don't have half a billion dollars lying around in a spare account that we can put into a bailout of an airline,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the media.He blamed the Joe Biden administration for blocking a proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in March 2024 and assured ticket holders that they would get refunds.Affected passengers, crewWhile Spirit has promised refunds to its customers, other airlines – including American, Delta, United and JetBlue – mobilised to help the stranded passengers and crew members.They offered what some dubbed "rescue fares" to those waki
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Spirit Airlines said it has cancelled all flights and is winding down operations due to rising fuel prices and lack of a government bailout. Refunds will be automatically processed for ticket purchases made with credit or debit cards, it added.Spirit Airlines airplanes sit parked at Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US April 23, 2026. (REUTERS)(REUTERS)Spirit Airlines announced on Saturday that it has cancelled all flights as it begins an “orderly wind-down of operations,” citing a sharp rise in fuel prices in recent weeks that left it with no alternative. The struggling airline, which had been preparing to exit its second bankruptcy within a year, said it would shut down operations after a potential bailout from the White House did not materialise.For customers, the airline mentioned it would automatically issue refunds for any flights purchased with a credit or debit card, returning the amount to the original mode of payment."It is with great disappointment that Spirit Airlines has started winding down its global operations, effective immediately. All flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. While we are not able to help rebook your flight on another airline, we will automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment," the airline said in a statement.It added, "We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry for the last 33 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come.”Spirit Airlines said its website displayed a notice informing passengers that “customer service is no longer available”, while assuring that refunds for purchased tickets would be processed.Jet fuel prices have surged to more than double their earlier levels since the conflict with Iran began in February, forcing major US airlines to cut profit forecasts, scale back expansion plans, or take both measures.Spirit’s President and CEO Dave Davis reactsDavis said in March that the company had reached an agreement with bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have enabled it to continue operating as a viable 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,” David stated.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Spirit Airlines had been presented with a “final proposal” for a bailout package. Officials from the Trump administration also slammed the earlier administration of Joe Biden for blocking a proposed $3.8 billion takeover of the airline by JetBlue, arguing the move would have negatively affected consumers.In its statement, Spirit said there were "extensive and comprehensive efforts to restructure the business," but added that the absence of additional funding meant it “had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”Jan Brueckner, an emeritus economics professor at the University of California, Irvine, told AFP last week that the surge in fuel prices was "the straw that broke the camel's back."American Airlines said early Saturday that it was in contact with US authorities regarding "steps we are taking to help mitigate the impact on the communities Spirit serves and the traveling public." The airline added that it was offering "rescue fares" on Spirit’s routes.United Airlines also said it was providing "price-capped, one-way tickets from most cities where Spirit flew."Spirit Airlines, which launched operations in 1992, was widely recognised for its yellow aircraft and had a workforce of just over 11,000 employees as of 2024.(With inputs from AFP)About the AuthorGarvit BhiraniGarvit Bhirani is a journalist based
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