'Godspeed my friend': Inside the final hours of Spirit Airlines

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Airlines
'Godspeed my friend': Inside the final hours of Spirit Airlines

Published Sat, May 2 2026 6:28 PM EDT
Updated Sat, May 2 2026 8:26 PM EDT
Leslie Josephs
@lesliejosephs

KEY POINTS
• Spirit Airlines shut down at 3 a.m. ET Saturday after talks for a government bailout fell apart.
• The budget airline known for its bright yellow jets brought discount travel to the masses in the U.S. and large parts of the Caribbean and Latin America.
• More than 17,000 direct and indirect employees lost their jobs.
In this article


Spirit Airlines kiosks at New York's LaGuardia Airport on May 2, hours after the carrier shut down.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC

BALTIMORE/NEW YORK — Spirit Airlines was hours away from its final flights Friday afternoon. Jeremiah Burton was hours away from his first. ... "It's my first time flying," Burton, a 45-year-old air conditioning and heating technician, told CNBC at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to depart for New Orleans to visit his daughter and her newborn twins. ... "To tell you the truth, I just went online and Googled the cheapest airline ticket," he said, adding that he paid about $500 for the trip late last month. He was scheduled to return on May 6.

While Burton waited for his flight, Spirit was making final preparations to shut down overnight, ending a three-decade run that brought discount air travel to millions across the United States and as far away as Peru. Spirit canceled international flights on Thursday, to start, so travelers, planes, and flight crews wouldn't be stranded. The airline said it flew more than 50,000 people the day leading up to its collapse.

Spirit bondholders rejected an 11th-hour bailout proposal from the Trump administration that could have included up to $500 million to keep the ailing airline afloat. The deal would have put the government ahead of other bondholders' claims and given it an up to 90% stake in the airline.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Spirit CEO Dave Davis to tell him there was no deal and that bondholders and the government were far from an agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bondholders sent a letter to Spirit's board, confirming that the end was near.

Terminals go quiet

{snip}

[WSHazel]

1. Submit to Trump or die

This is the future of our economy under Trump. Investment in the country is drying up outside of the AI bubble. Why would anyone invest in a country with as arbitrary and capricious a regulatory environment as ours?

[3Hotdogs]

2. On this one, I am not sure I agree with you. Trump was offering taxpayer money to bail out the airline and the

offer would put the taxpayers ahead of other bond holders. THEY BALKED. Not Trump.

D.U.rs have often complained about prior government bailouts Why would this have been different?

[Raven123]

3. Could it be because they didn't trust Trump? Just a thought.

Count me among those who cringe a bailouts. Not saying they are never justifiable. Any deal with this administration comes not with strings, but a rope attached. Who knows what else Trump wanted.

[AverageOldGuy]

4. Why would this one have been different?

I am not a fan of bailouts no m after what the reasons.

In the case of this one my biggest problem is that it’s coming from Trump. We don’t know the details but I am suspicious that he may have wanted to add Spirit to his family businesses. Of course, he already has one airline among his many failures, Trump Shuttle.

[Marthe48]

5. My relative is a pilot

He is grounded for now. We were hoping that Spirit would stay aloft. At least the stress of waiting for bad news is over.