Spirit Airlines Officially Closes and What This Means For Everyone

Spirit Airlines announced it would close and liquidate all assets effective 3 AM Friday, May 1st. Following loads of mismanagement and multiple bankruptcies, the airline couldn’t continue operations. This is problematic because Spirit was a dominant budget carrier; furthermore, budget carriers are in short supply and will need to raise fares.

Corporally, Spirit's loss is a good thing for U.S. airlines; there is less competition, slots in key markets for sale, and aircraft for sale at low prices(aircraft orders are commonly on backorder until the 2030s). For consumers, this is bad; fares will rise, loyalty programs will worsen, and there will be fewer nonstop flights.

Spirit’s liquidation left 34,000 professionals jobless with no notice, while other airlines have faced labor shortages and offer higher pay. Alternative airlines now offer emergency fares for customers whose flights were canceled in the next two weeks. Due to demand shortages, alternative airlines have empty seats, which is driving extra revenue, with some emergency fares higher than some revenue fares. This leaves me with true optimism for other airlines because it leaves open gates in New York and Florida which means that competition in already competitive markets will increase. This can also help save JetBlue, a competitor based primarily in New York, Boston, and Fort Lauderdale, which has also been surfacing required liquidations within the next year. JetBlue came and went following Spirit’s announcement by operating many of Spirit's old routes that were profitable. These include  Fort Lauderdale to Barranquilla (BAQ), Baltimore (BWI), Cali (CLO), Charlotte (CLT), Columbus (CMH), Indianapolis (IND), Nashville (BNA), Detroit (DTW), Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH), and Ponce (PSE); seasonally, 1 daily BAQ from October 1: 3 daily to BWI, CLT, BNA, IAH from July 9, 1 daily CMH, IND from November 2, 2 daily ORD, DTW from July 9, and 1 daily PSE from July 9. JetBlue hasn’t made money in six years, but they project this is the save they needed.

For consumers, this is a problem. Following the supply/demand chain, other airlines can now fill more seats and raise costs because supply decreased without affecting demand. In any form, that forecasts fare increases. Additionally, anyone with Spirit points lost all of them. If you have status, JetBlue, Southwest, and Avelo are offering status matches.