Spirit Airlines announces 'phased shutdown' of operations and cancels all flights

Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which served numerous destinations in Latin America, announced Saturday thatit canceled all flights and began the "orderly shutdown of its operations" following the failure of a possible financial bailout by the White House.

Donald Trump, had expressed interest in offering financial aid to save thousands of jobs at the company, which had declared bankruptcy twice by 2025. The airline connected the United States, especially the state of Florida, with more than 20 destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

In a statement, parent company Spirit Aviation Holdings announced "with regret that the company initiated the orderly shutdown of its operations, effective immediately. All Spirit flights have been canceled, and Spirit passengers should not travel to the airport," the statement said.

The company's website displays a message stating that "customer service is no longer available." The airline said it will process refunds for flights already purchased.

Rising fuel costs due to the Iran war, the puncture

This company known for its flashy yellow planes, which began offering flights in 1992, emerged as a tough competitor to the established airlines because of its low cost.

Its chairman and chief executive, Dave Davis, explained that in March they had reached an agreement with creditors for a restructuring plan that would have "allowed them to re-emerge as a business for the future."

However, the speedy rise in fuel prices since the outbreak of war in the Middle East "has left us with no alternative but to carry out a gradual closure of the company," he said in the statement.

"Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not obtain. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us desired," he added.

"Final proposal"

On Friday, Trump explained that they had sent a "final proposal" for a bailout of the airline, which in 2024 employed about 11,000 people. "I imagine we're looking at it. If we can do it, we will do it, but only if it's a good deal," he told reporters at the White House.

Senior members of the Trump administration criticized the previous administration of Joe Biden for blocking a $3.8 billion takeover bid by JetBlue, arguing it would hurt consumers.

In its statement, Spirit said there had been "broad and comprehensive efforts to restructure the business," but that the lack of additional funding left it with "no choice but to undertake this closure."

American Airlines and United Airlines offer to help Spirit customers

After the closure was announced, American Airlines and United Airlines, two of the nation's largest air transportation carriers, offered to help Spirit's customers.

American claimed it was offering "bailout fares" on Spirit routes to "mitigate the impact on communities" and United proposed "price-capped one-way tickets from most cities the low-cost firm flew to."