Spirit Airlines shut down before dawn on May 2, 2026, two years after the Biden Justice Department blocked the merger that would have saved it and weeks after a $500 million federal rescue collapsed in negotiations with bondholders. The cabin crew and gate agents who lost their jobs when the airline stopped flying were reduced to a GoFundMe to pay their bills. The 46 percent of national ultra-low-cost airline capacity that anchored the lawsuit is sitting on tarmacs in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, waiting to be sold for parts. Spirit's former passengers will fly Delta, American, and United now, on the legacy carriers Spirit had been disciplining on price, at fares those carriers can set without the constraint of a budget competitor.
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