Spirit Airlines says most customers refunded, staff returned to home bases after sudden shutdown
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A Spirit Airlines aircraft sitting at Miami International Airport in Florida on May 2.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK - American budget carrier Spirit Airlines said on May 3 that it had almost completed refunding passengers and returning its crew to their home bases following its decision to cease operations over the weekend.
Spirit abruptly cancelled flights early on the morning of May 2, stranding passengers and staff around the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, after collapsing under financial pressures that included a sharp rise in fuel costs due to the Iran war.
The carrier had more than 4,000 domestic flights scheduled through to May 15, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Most customers who booked with credit or debit cards were refunded by the evening of May 2, with a small percentage still being processed, the company said.
Ms Jessica Stanton said she had flown on April 30 to Boston, Massachusetts, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for her college graduation. On May 1, she received an e-mail informing her that her return trip had been cancelled.
“I haven’t received anything else. No messages about a refund. Nothing,” said Ms Stanton.
In response to a request for commenton Ms Stanton’s case, Spirit said refunds may take time to show in guests’ accounts.
The airline had filed for bankruptcy twice after a proposed merger with JetBlue was blocked by the administration of former President Joe Biden in 2024.
“They were bleeding money and so this was in the works for some time. They were going to have to liquidate,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on May 3 on American news network ABC’s This Week programme. On Fox Business Network’s Sunday Morning Futures programme, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed Spirit’s shutdown on the Biden Administration.
US President Donald Trump proposed US$500 million (S$4636.6 million) to save Spirit as a surge in jet fuel prices, a consequence of the US-Israeli war with Iran, presented a headwind to the airline’s planned exit from bankruptcy this summer.
A group of lenders pushed back against the proposal, which could erode the value of their positions, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. A Spirit board meeting ended without an agreement to rescue the company on May 1.
“Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure,” Spirit chief executive Dave Davis said in a statement on May 2.
“This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
Multiple American carriers - including Frontier, JetBlue and Southwest - introduced discount fares to help stranded passengers and plans for new summer routes. Airlines like Delta and American Airlines were also offering temporarily lower fares to Spirit passengers.
A final group of about 1,500 crew members was re-based over the weekend. REUTERS
