Spirit Airlines is permanently grounded.
The airline’s final flight touched down in Dallas this past weekend as the low-budget carrier ended service after 34 years.
Now, passengers’ frustrations are taking off.
“All of a sudden, no, no notice, no nothing. It's just we wake up and it's like, ok, yeah, we're bankrupt, like what?” one passenger said.
The airline has filed for bankruptcy twice in the past two years but it says the recent “Increase in oil prices and other pressures” gave it no choice but to shut down.
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The price of jet fuel is up more than 70% since the war with Iran began.
But the Trump White House is pointing the finger at the Biden administration, which rejected a proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in 2023.
"Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, along with the Biden DOJ, decided that they did not want that merger to take place," said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. "This today would indicate this is not better for travelers, this is not better for pricing, this is not better for competition, actually it's worse."
Industry experts say a number of issues did Spirit in.
"This is not a political matter. This is a function of spirits management taking its eye off the ball," said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst for Atmosphere Research Group.
Experts are warning Spirit’s collapse could mean higher fares for all travelers.
"Even for people who don't fly Spirit, it means that much less choice, that much less capacity, that much less competition," said Harteveldt.
