Spirit Airlines has shut down after 34 years in business, after failing to secure a US$500 million bailout from the Trump administration.
The budget airline was in talks with the United States government about a rescue deal that would have saved it from going out of business.
These discussions fell through, and the airline has cancelled all flights.
Spirit said it would automatically process any refunds for flights purchased through Spirit in a media release.
The company also said that, despite its efforts to restructure the business, it was unable to survive the massive increases in oil prices and mitigate other pressures on the business that have significantly impacted its financial outlook.
“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,” Spirit’s president and CEO Dave Davis said.
“Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure.”
The airline once operated hundreds of daily flights and employed around 17,000.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday that Spirit had a reserve fund set up for customers who bought directly from the airline to get refunds. People who bought from third-party vendors like travel agents would have to seek refunds from them.
Duffy said other airlines, like Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, were capping ticket prices specifically for Spirit customers who need to rebook cancelled flights and announced actions to help displaced Spirit employees.
“In a matter of hours, 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.
