Viral Grassroots Effort To Buy Spirit Airlines Claims $22 Million In Pledges — But Has No Cash And No Business Plan

With Spirit Airlines out of business there’s an attempt at a grass roots effort for “the people” to buy it. The project, “Spirit 2.0 — Owned by the People,” is seeking pledges from passengers, employees, and communities, to acquire the carrier’s assets – with one member, one vote (regardless of investment) but profit sharing based on pledge amount.

The new carrier would offer worker equity through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, capped executive pay, open books, and “affordable fares” in a Green Bay Packers-style community ownership model applied to aviation.

But website pledges are non-binding, they’re not actually collecting money, and there’s not even a plan for actually making money – the crux of the problem with the business in the first place. So the effort amounts to a pledge form and mailing list capture.

I take this as a viral organizing stunt and attempt to ride the sentiment as the airline goes gently into that good night. They claim 36,605 “founding patrons,” $22.8 million pledged, and a $1.75 billion target, but no actual money. And even if the money was real that’s only 1.3% of their target. At the claimed average pledge of $623, they would need about 2.8 million pledges, if all were fulfilled.

It appears to be the creation of voice actor Hunter Peterson:

get in losers, we're gonna try to buy an airline.https://t.co/9rOh6Y0N1g

— Hunter Peterson (@hitherehunter) May 2, 2026

let’s buy spirit airlines /s

tag the richest person u know pic.twitter.com/OW6Xs7t19G

— Hunter Peterson (@hitherehunter) May 2, 2026

The plan is co-op ownershhip and low fares, but nothing to fix the airline’s strategy that led to shutdown in the first place. Spirit itself had a plan, albeit an insufficient one. Where this this airline fly? With which aircraft? Will they lean into premium or return to their low cost routes? How will they manage high fuel costs and basic economy competition from major airlines? At billion dollar annual run rate for losses, they’d need a plan quickly!

I suppose it’s not a worse plan than Marco Rubio finding out he has to run Spirit Airlines, too – as pilot, baggage handler, flight attendant… and he’s even responsible for fighting the passengers.

Marco Rubio finding out he has to run Spirit Airlines now too. pic.twitter.com/xhytHhuEDH

— Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) May 2, 2026

I’d also note that the Green Bay Packers are a publicly owned nonprofit, and shareholders receive no dividends, which is almost the opposite of what is being proposed for profit-sharing here. And the United Airlines ESOP ended in bankruptcy. It’s generally considered a cautionary tale, not a roadmap. Ultimately Spirit Airlines creditors are not going to wait for this effort. But it’s a good effort for building a marketing list!