Spirit Airlines shuts down as company says it can’t keep up with higher oil prices
- By Reuters -
- May 03, 2026
Spirit Airlines, an impish upstart that shook the industry with its irreverent ads and deep discount fares, announced Saturday that it has gone out of business after 34 years.
The ultralow cost airline that once operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed about 17,000 people said it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.”
Spirit abruptly cancelled flights overnight, stranding passengers and staff around the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America, after collapsing under financial pressures that included a sharp rise in fuel costs due to the Iran war.
On social media platforms such as Reddit and X, where disgruntled passengers often vent their frustrations about delayed or cancelled flights, former Spirit patrons recounted how the airline had provided a lifeline to money-conscious travelers.
“They truly were one of the last cheap — ‘get me there as fast and cheap as possible’ — options,” Reddit user AioliUpset7805 wrote on a thread about the airline’s closure. “I’ll miss them.”
Spirit, which had operated commercially since the early 1990s, became known for providing some of the cheapest available flights in exchange for limited luxuries and services. Unlike most U.S. airlines, Florida-based Spirit charged for bottled water, for example, and did not provide reclining seats.
While that lack of amenities sometimes became the topic of online memes, many travelers said Spirit cleared the way for Americans on a budget to take family holidays or to visit loved ones living in far-flung parts of the country.
“I can only imagine how many millions of families (there are) out there where vacations are now out of reach,” Reddit user BigBubby305 said, adding that the price difference between Spirit and carriers like Delta and American Airlines was, at times, more than $1,000 for a set of tickets for their family.