Spirit Airlines, the ultra-low-cost carrier, ceased operations early on Saturday after running out of cash and failing to secure rescue talks with the Trump administration. The US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, announced measures to assist passengers, including agreements with larger airlines to cap ticket prices for those needing to rebook cancelled flights.
Duffy stated that United, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest had agreed to cap fares for Spirit customers with a flight confirmation number and proof of payment. American Airlines and Delta will offer reduced fares on high-volume Spirit routes, while Allegiant committed to freezing fares on overlapping routes. Frontier will provide a 50% base-fare reduction for affected travellers.
Spirit, which operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed around 17,000 people, announced the wind-down of its operations after 34 years. The company said, 'To our guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available.' The airline blamed the sharp rise in jet fuel prices since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran for sealing its fate.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) called the collapse 'devastating' and blamed 'corporate mismanagement and poor financial stewardship'. Duffy predicted a stronger competitive market and said he did not think the government needed to bail out other low-cost airlines. Spirit employees will be offered preferential employment interviews, with American and United launching websites to ease the process.
Spirit will process refunds for flights purchased by credit or debit card. Existing ticket holders can also contact their credit card issuers for refunds under the Fair Credit Billing Act, or their flight insurance providers or the airline's bankruptcy court.
