Spirit had been talking with the White House about a potential $500 million bailout in exchange for warrants for a 90% stake in the company, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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The struggling ultra-low-cost airline had been working toward becoming solvent again by this summer, drastically shrinking its network, selling aircraft, and renegotiating its debt, after a failed merger with JetBlue and two bankruptcies since 2024.
But rising jet fuel costs from the Iran war, generally about 40% of a carrier’s operating costs, strained the Daria Beach-based carrier’s plans.
It’s unclear if final talks were over Friday afternoon or when Spirit flights might stop. The airline’s available funds were expected to run out within a matter of days, CBS News reported.
“We’re looking at Spirit. If we can help them, we will, but we have to come first,” Trump told reporters before leaving for an appearance in The Villages. “If we could do it, we’d do it, but only if it’s a good deal this weekend, because they haven’t gotten a deal looking at it,” adding that he expected an announcement sometime Friday.”
“We gave them a final proposal,” he said.
Some of Spirit’s creditors objected to the terms of the bailout, The New York Times reported, since they would be left in a worse financial position if Spirit eventually failed. “Some Republican lawmakers were also opposed to a government bailout of Spirit,” the Times said.
When will Spirit Airlines shut down?
As of the afternoon of May 1, the Spirit website is still selling tickets.
The carrier has not reported a profit since 2019, the Times said. Since last April, the number of Spirit flights has shrunk by more than half, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm.
This could leave some Florida travelers in the lurch, especially at Spirit’s main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The White House has reached out to other airlines to discuss how to accommodate people who have Spirit tickets and could be stranded if the airline stops operating. United Airlines said it was preparing to support Spirit customers if the rival shuts down.
It is unknown at this point when the planes will be grounded and operations will end.
