Spirit Airlines may be grounded: how it could impact your travel plans
The airline has been forced to ground a large portion of its A320neo fleet due to operational issues with the planes’ Pratt & Whitney engines.
Difficult times for no-frills US carrier Spirit Airlines. Last November, the Florida-based airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, only to emerge four months later after finalizing its debt.
Spirit has been losing revenue for over a year with 20% of 195-strong fleet grounded to due operational issues with Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, directly affecting its Airbus A320neo family.
The company has lost 2.5 billion dollars since 2020 (it has made a loss in each of the last five years) and last week issued its quarterly report, which announced that it expects to continue “for at least the remainder of 2025” but beyond that, the situation is not looking good at all for the beleaguered airline.
Spirit said it is taking action in an attempt to remain afloat but unless the situation improves, it may be forced to close down in 2026.
What will happen is Spirit goes bust?
The airline carried a 44.2 million passengers in 2024 - a record, so what will happen if it does go out of business, or alternatively, bought by a competitor? (Spirit has already rejected a takeover bid by Frontier Airlines).
As a low-cost carrier, Spirit’s demise would likely have a knock-on effect, with major airlines bumping prices back up - many of them were forced to offer economy deals in recent years in order to compete with the Florida carrier. Scott Keyes, CEO of Going.com to CNN: “Even for folks who never would fly Spirit, you owe them a debt of gratitude for cheaper flights.”
On some of the routes which Spirit discontinued last year (Columbus-Dallas, Atlanta-Chicago, Las Vegas-Minneapolis...) competitors hiked their fares by an average of 6% with some routes seeing 22% rises in fares.
Spirit lowering airfares, even if you fly with another carrier so if they disappear, or merge with one of the major carriers, expect prices to rise.
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