Spirit Airlines collapses amid jet fuel crisis leaving passengers stranded: ‘I thought it was a hack’

Panicked passengers, travel agents, and even the US government scrambled to find alternative flights for thousands of stranded flyers after Spirit Airlines’ sudden shutdown over the weekend.

The discount airline ceased operations on Saturday, in what has been described as the industry’s first casualty linked to the war on Iran.

Spirit was emerging from its second bankruptcy filing in recent years before the US and Israel attacked Iran, but the resulting surge in jet fuel costs pushed it over the edge.

The shutdown of Spirit — a pioneering budget airline that reshaped low-cost travel — stranded thousands of passengers across the US.

The company cancelled all flights, halted customer service and told travellers not to come to the airport.

Customers were issued refunds and instructed to rebook with other airlines.

The collapse is remarkable.

It is the first time in 25 years that a US airline of Spirit’s size has collapsed because it ran out of money.

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At one point, the carrier accounted for 5% of all US flights.

But discussions collapsed and the carrier said in an announcement on its website on Saturday that with ‘great disappointment’ it had ‘started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately’.

The collapse will result in the loss of about 15,000 jobs of Spirit employees and contractors, the airline said.

And it’s more bad news for cost-conscious travellers.

Spirit helped keep airfares lower in markets where it competed against major carriers.

The airline flew around 1.7 million US domestic passengers in February, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.

It had 4,119 domestic flights scheduled between May 1 and May 15.

At New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Saturday, a sheet of paper taped over a cardboard sign at the Spirit window read: ‘We regret to inform you that Spirit Airlines has ceased global operations.

‘All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available.’
Overhead, a departures board was a sea of red.

Nine Spirit flights bound for cities across Texas, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina, all marked ‘cancelled’.

Some passengers, unaware of what had happened, were still arriving at the Spirit counter in Terminal A.

CNN reported that one family were there to travel to a close relative’s funeral.

One Spirit customer, Yash Kothari, told CBS News that he didn’t learn about the airline’s shutdown until he arrived at Philadelphia International Airport for a flight at 5.45am on Saturday.

He said: ‘The email came in at 1am, so I was unaware.’
Another passenger said she saw the notification, but ‘honestly thought the app was being hacked’.

Several airlines stepped in to offer ‘rescue fares’ to stranded Spirit customers.

American, Southwest, United, Frontier, United, JetBlue, and Delta Airlines were all reaching out with ticket offers outlined in a stack of memos at the Spirit window.

Spirit said it would automatically process refunds for flights booked directly with the airline with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment.

However, a bankruptcy court will determine how to compensate those who booked flights using a voucher, credit or airline points.

Those who used a travel agent should contact the agent, it said.

The airline also said it could not reimburse guests for emergency hotel stays or replacement flights.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X that the federal government was coordinating with airlines to ‘bring relief to Spirit customers and its workforce’ following the collapse.

Brandon Keene, a pilot who joined the company in 2023 and was laid off, told CNN’s Brial Abel that the only communication staff got was an email from the chief pilot between 6pm and 7pm on Friday.

Later, he said they got another email from Spirit’s CEO shortly after 1am Saturday, saying the company was closing.

An emotional send-off

Elsewhere, a Spirit pilot was given an emotional send-off into retirement by another airline after what was supposed to be his final flight was cancelled on Saturday night.

Jon Jackson had been scheduled to fly his final flight into Baltimore-Washington international airport when the carrier ceased operations.

So instead, he boarded a Southwest flight to get back to Baltimore from Fort Lauderdale.

The crew organised a water cannon salute over the aircraft when it touched down and Jon was met with cheers and a bottle of bubbly when he disembarked.

Beaming with delight, he gave a brief speech and told Southwest staff it was ‘very overwhelming, I can’t thank you all enough’.

People to the rescue?

A viral crowdfunding campaign launched by a TikTok creator is attempting to buy Spirit Airlines, drawing millions in pledges within days of the airline’s collapse.

The initiative, led by voice actor Hunter Peterson, emerged shortly after Spirit halted operations on Saturday, ending its 34-year run.

The campaign, dubbed ‘Let’s Buy Spirit,’ has attracted more than 36,000 supporters and nearly $23 million in non-binding pledges, according to reports.

However the estimated cost of acquiring the airline is around $1.7 billion.

Peterson said the idea began as a joke but quickly gained traction as thousands of former passengers and employees expressed interest.

The campaign aims to prevent private equity firms from acquiring the airline and instead proposes a community-owned model inspired by publicly held organisations.

The jet fuel crisis

Around the world, airlines have been contending with surging jet fuel prices since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, in the air travel industry’s worst crisis since the Covid pandemic.

The Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been blocked by Iran since late February, handles approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply.

Its closure and the subsequent jet fuel crisis have had a massive impact on the aviation industry, with costs for a barrel skyrocketing from around $85 to $90 (£62 to £85) per barrel to $150 to $200 (£110 to £150).

Jet fuel accounts for about a quarter of airlines’ operating expenses.

Spirit’s collapse shows how the Iran war’s fuel-price shock has exposed weaker airlines.

Mohamed El-Erian, economist and senior global fellow at the Wharton School, told Reuters: ‘The war’s spillovers, if not contained, risk pushing other fragile businesses over the edge and severely burdening vulnerable households and economies alike.’
The fuel crisis has already claimed one UK airline.

Ascend Airways cancelled all flights and operations overnight last week.