FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Pioneering discount carrier Spirit Airlines formally announced an end to more than three decades of flying early Saturday after the U.S. Government and the Dania Beach-based company failed to reach an agreement designed to save the cash-strapped firm and help it emerge from bankruptcy.

“All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and Spirit Guests should not go to the airport,” declared a statement distributed shortly after 2:30 a.m. by Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc., the airline’s parent.

Spirit said it “regretfully” made the decision to end operations “effective immediately.” The last Spirit flight landed in Dallas from Detroit, an Airbus jetliner with a familiar yellow fuselage and black lettered livery bearing the number NK1833.

On its final day, the airline “safely flew more than 50,000 passengers,” a spokesperson said by email. And management was working to transport more than 1,300 crew “safely home to their bases.”

As of 4 a.m. Saturday, the tracking service FlightAware showed 100% of the airline’s flights were canceled. Of the 277 flights, 85 of them were at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where Spirit was the leader in passengers served.

No agreement

The airline had been operating under Chapter 11 protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code since August of last year, and was close to exiting the process until the U.S. war with Iran caused jet fuel prices to spike, plunging the airline into a renewed financial crisis.

As the airline ran short of cash, the company turned to the federal government for a rare last-ditch bailout, but no agreement could be reached.

Spirit’s shutdown immediately ended the jobs of most of the carrier’s 17,000 direct and indirect employees who served the airline in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America. Some of them worked for Spirit for more than 25 years.

Unions representing thousands of suddenly idled pilots, flight attendants and ground workers all issued statements demanding economic protections for their members in bankruptcy court.

The common message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers: Make sure they are all paid wages and benefits to which they are entitled under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

“The Administration must take immediate action to protect the workers whose lives are hanging in the balance,” said Sara Nelson, the AFA-CWA national president. “The lives of the workers must be a top priority of this administration and the bankruptcy court as this process continues.”

Among other things, she urged the adoption of a $600 weekly supplemental payout from the state unemployment system.

Customers adjust plans

A number of travelers did not get the shutdown message, arriving instead late Saturday morning at a vacated Spirit departure area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International’s Terminal 4.

Service desks were unmanned. Each ticket kiosk displayed the same message headlined, “Operational Update.”

“We regret to inform you that Spirit Airlines has ceased global operations,” the message read.

Some travelers stopped airport employees and a Broward sheriff’s deputy stationed at the Spirit station, asking for help.

“I lost my stuff,” Jean Richard, 73, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

He had been out of the country in Haiti and arrived at a customer service desk Saturday in hopes of finding a bag he had checked with the airline months ago; it contained important legal documents. Informed the airline had shut down, he was shocked.

“Last night?” Richard said incredulously.

DQ Simpson, 55, walked through the terminal in one of his many button-down shirts adorned with Spirit planes, filming the scene on his cellphone.

A resident of Norfolk, Virginia, who goes by the Instagram handle @spiritshirtguy, wears one of the shirts — or his Spirit Christmas sweater — every time he flew the airline, which was about 90% of the time. He has made the airline his brand since his first flight on one of their planes in 2008, flying to Florida 20 times a year, mostly for Miami Dolphins games.

Just last week, he posted a video of himself touring the airline’s Dania Beach headquarters.

When Simpson heard about Spirit’s demise, he said, “I was in tears.”

“It takes you from a place of cold, brutal weather down to a nice sunny Florida,” he said. “So that means a lot to me, being able to, in the middle of wintertime, just get up and go. And they had so many affordable options, that you can just jump on a plane.”

He was at the airport Saturday because he had a flight to Atlantic City to visit family. Now he has to take JetBlue, he said. “My brand’s going to have to be a legacy now,” he said.

Late Friday, Spirit passengers had wondered what types of alternate plans they could make. Gorgeous Jacobs, who lives in New Orleans, said she was returning home from a cruise. Her group’s flight to New Orleans was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Friday, and she encountered news about the pending shutdown while scrolling on Instagram.

”They said they had 24 hours left. … I’m glad that we’re flying home today,” Jacobs said Friday. “I love Spirit. It’s kind of unfortunate. We really liked flying with Spirit.”

Requesting refunds

The airline directed travelers to visit spiritrestructuring.com for more information about Spirit’s cessation of operations.

The airline’s website, previously a portal for millions who booked domestic and international flights, was suddenly transformed into a going-out-of-business site with the headline, “Spirit Winding Down Operations.”

“To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” a message says. “We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come.”

Spirit said it would “automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment.”

People who booked flights via a travel agent should contact them directly to request a refund.

“Compensation for Guests who booked flights using any other methods, including a voucher, credit or Free Spirit points, will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process,” the company said.

Other carriers declared their intentions to help Spirit customers.

Offering to help

About an hour after Spirit announced its shutdown, Frontier Airlines of Denver, a perennial, albeit unsuccessful buyout suitor of Spirit, announced “systemwide rescue fare discounts” for stranded Spirit passengers.

It is offering a $199 GoWild All-You-Can-Fly Summer Pass “to support travelers affected by Spirit Airlines’ end of operations.” Information can be found at flyfrontier.com/deals/gowild-pass.

“Frontier currently serves more than 100 routes previously flown by Spirit and will expand further this summer with nine additional routes, plus 15 additional daily flights across 18 former Spirit markets, giving customers more options to rebook their travel plans with confidence while keeping fares low,” the airline said in a statement.

“Spirit Airlines played an important role in expanding access to affordable travel and bringing more low fares to more people,” said Bobby Schroeter, Frontier’s chief commercial officer. “We recognize this is a difficult time for their customers and team members.”

Other airlines, including JetBlue Airways, American and United, said they would step in to help.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whose department participated in the unsuccessful bailout effort, announced Saturday several measures to help Spirit customers holding tickets.

The effort allows them to rebook with certain airlines at capped or reduced prices. The participating carriers are United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, which are all capping ticket prices specifically for Spirit customers who need to rebook canceled flights.

“We’ve activated our airline partners to ensure passengers are not stranded, communities maintain route access, fares do not skyrocket, and Spirit’s workforce is connected to new job opportunities,” Duffy said in a statement.

Separately, Avianca, the national flag carrier of Colombia, said it is offering return options with no airfare charge to those who have already flown their outbound segment and have a return ticket with Spirit to their original destination. The option is subject to availability and conditions of a protection plan, and passengers are responsible for taxes and fees.

No financial alternatives

The decision to stop flying came after what the company called “extensive and comprehensive efforts to restructure the business and pursue transactions to strengthen Spirit’s financial position and create a sustainable path forward.”

“Unfortunately, despite the Company’s efforts, the recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” the statement said. “With no additional funding available to the Company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”

“For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry,” said Dave Davis, Spirit’s president and chief executive officer.

As recently as this past March, the airline was poised to exit bankruptcy this summer, but the U.S.-Israel war with Iran disrupted the plan by driving jet fuel costs to unmanageable levels.

“In March 2026, we reached an agreement with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business,” Davis said. “However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company.”

In what amounted to an 11th-hour appeal, Spirit two weeks ago turned to the U.S. government for what would have been an unprecedented bailout of a major airline. According to reports, a deal that appeared to have the backing of President Donald Trump called for a $500 million loan that would potentially yield a 90% ownership stake for the government.

Some major Spirit creditors, however, balked at the proposal, reportedly fearing their priority positions for repayment would be compromised.

The proposal also was resisted by Republicans who strongly denounced the plan as a bad idea, and by rival airlines that are feeling their own fuel cost pressures.

Since Congress deregulated the industry in 1978, no airline has ever been taken over by the government. But many troubled carriers did visit bankruptcy courts to restructure their finances, be sold to competitors or liquidated.

In South Florida, several carriers encountered the latter two fates over the last 40-plus years, including Eastern Airlines, which was once the region’s largest corporate employer; Air Florida, an early discount pioneer; and Northeastern International Airways, another discounter which was based in Fort Lauderdale.

More recently, Silver Airways, the Hollywood-based regional carrier that served Florida and the Caribbean for well over a decade, went out of business last June.

“I think other airlines very rightly objected to the government bailing out Spirit,” said Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, an industry consultancy based in Dallas. “The government hasn’t bailed out any airline — including airlines as large as Spirit — since the industry was deregulated.”

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