Major airline shuts and cancels all flights after plunging into financial chaos

A major airline has closed down and cancelled all flights after plunging into financial difficulty. Spirit Airlines, an ultra-low 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.” The carrier emerged from a trucking company founded in the 1960s, with air operations commencing after it was founded as an airline in 1983 and it moved its base to Florida in 1999. Spirit opened as many as 29 new routes during its peak in the mid-2010s and the company was once valued at $6billion but it has been struggling financially in recent years. The airline said on its website that all flights have been cancelled 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,” the announcement said. The company advised customers that they could expect refunds but there would be no help in booking travel on other airlines. The shutdown was expected after Friday came and went without a needed government bailout for the cash-strapped business. President Donald Trump said yesterday that his administration had given the budget carrier a “final proposal” for a taxpayer-funded takeover to keep it from going under, but a deal was not reached. Trump floated the idea of a bailout last week after the airline found itself in bankruptcy proceedings for the second time in less than two years with jet fuel prices soaring because of the Iran war. About 17,000 jobs could be impacted by a shutdown, Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner said. Spirit has struggled financially since the COVID-19 pandemic, weighed down by rising operating costs and growing debt. By the time it filed for Chapter 11 protection, to restructures debt under court supervision, in November 2024, Spirit had lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020. The budget carrier sought bankruptcy protection again in August 2025, when it reported having $8.1 billion in debts and $8.6 billion in assets, according to court filings. Supporters of a rescue including labour unions representing Spirit’s pilots, flight attendants and ramp workers said say a collapse would put thousands of people out of work and hurt consumers by reducing airline competition and increasing airfares.