Spirit Airlines announced Sunday it had largely completed refunding passengers and returning its crew to their home bases, following its abrupt decision to cease all operations over the weekend.
The carrier collapsed under severe financial pressures, including a sharp rise in fuel costs exacerbated by the Iran War, leading to the cancellation of thousands of flights and stranding travelers across the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America.
The airline, which had over 4,000 domestic flights scheduled through mid-May, stated that most customers who booked with credit or debit cards had been refunded by Saturday evening, with a small percentage still being processed.
However, some passengers reported difficulties. Jessica Stanton, who flew from Myrtle Beach to Boston for her college graduation, received an email Friday canceling her return trip.
“I haven’t received anything else. No messages about a refund. Nothing,” Stanton said Sunday afternoon. Spirit acknowledged that refunds might take time to appear in guests’ accounts.
Spirit had previously filed for bankruptcy twice, with a proposed merger with JetBlue blocked by the administration of President Joe Biden in 2024.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy commented on Sunday, “They were bleeding money and so this was in the works for some time. They were going to have to liquidate.” Conversely, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attributed Spirit’s shutdown to the Biden Administration.
Amidst the financial turmoil, Donald Trump proposed $500 million to save Spirit, as surging jet fuel prices, a consequence of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, threatened the airline’s planned exit from bankruptcy.
However, a group of lenders opposed the proposal, fearing it would diminish the value of their positions, according to a source familiar with the matter. A Spirit board meeting on Friday concluded without an agreement to rescue the company.
Spirit CEO Dave Davis stated, “Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure,” adding, “This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
In response to the crisis, multiple U.S. carriers, including Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest, introduced discount fares to assist stranded passengers.
Airlines like Delta and American Airlines also offered temporarily lower fares to Spirit customers. The final group of approximately 1,500 Spirit crew members was successfully re-based over the weekend.
