Tag Archives for spirit airlines.
Spirit opened its new $250 million “Spirit Central” corporate campus in 2024, complete with training facilities, employee housing, and space for more than 1,000 workers. Now, in bankruptcy, a stalking horse bidder is offering just $88 million for much of the nearly brand-new headquarters complex — an extraordinary markdown for a project that symbolized how far the airline had drifted from its ultra-low-cost roots.
Delta outbid other airlines for Spirit’s scarce Atlanta gates, giving it even more control at the world’s busiest airport. The $12 million bankruptcy deal could let Delta tighten its grip on Atlanta, where competitors already struggle for gate access and consumers face less competition.
Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is trying to turn its LaGuardia flight slots into $87 million, but the airport’s operator says the airline is trying to auction off rights that aren’t Spirit’s to sell. That sounds like a major problem—except FAA-approved slot sales are real, and LaGuardia still has to provide airport access on reasonable, non-discriminatory terms.
Spirit Airlines may be gone, but one of its remaining lawsuits just died too. Customers claimed Spirit’s website tracked clicks, keystrokes, searches and browsing behavior through session-replay code, but the court said that without a concrete injury or sensitive personal information disclosed, creepy website tracking alone was not enough to sue.
Spirit Airlines’ final bankruptcy filing makes the blame game look beside the point: in its last full month, the airline lost $327 million and had just $72 million left in unrestricted cash. Even the proposed $500 million taxpayer bailout would not have saved it for long, because Spirit had not found a business model where customers would pay enough to cover its costs.
Spirit’s March operating report shows just how impossible the airline had become: it spent $1.61 for every $1 of revenue, lost $157 million on operations in one month, and still would have been deeply underwater even if fuel had been free. They could not have been bailed out.
Spirit Airlines workers say the company told them to ignore shutdown rumors right up until the end — then terminated nearly everyone without 60 days’ notice. Now they’re suing for WARN Act pay, while Spirit argues its collapse was unforeseeable because last-minute financing and a possible taxpayer bailout fell apart.
People pledging money to “buy Spirit Airlines” were already making a dubious bet: the campaign has no cash, no binding commitments, and no plan to fix the airline. Now scammers have spotted the obvious target — fake copycat sites are reportedly taking real money from would-be supporters.
Spirit Airlines offered taxpayers 80% of the company in exchange for a $500 million bailout. Trump wanted 90% and that extra demand may have helped kill the deal, leaving creditors to conclude they were better off liquidating the airline than giving the government nearly everything.
With employees gone and baggage offices empty, passengers whose luggage was found may still have no one there to give it back.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
