Spirit Airlines, the infamous yellow budget airline that competed against major carriers for over three decades, turned off its engines for the final time early Saturday morning.
Company officials announced that the airline, which employed more than 17,000 people, has gone out of business and ceased operations “effective immediately” after it was unable to secure enough funding from the federal government.
“It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately,” the company wrote in a statement to its website.
“To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come,” the now defunct airline added.
Spirit’s website was revamped to correspond with the announcement, showing no flight information, changing its link to SpiritStructuring.com, and advising ticketed passengers to stay home.
“Spirit Guests should not go to the airport,” a warning reads.
Approximately 277 Spirit flights scheduled for Saturday had been cancelled, with a majority out of Southeast, according to FlightAware.
Spirit Airlines Flight 1833, one of the last flights for the company before operations were shut down, had traveled from Detroit, Mich., before landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 12:17 a.m.
“It was a pleasure working with you guys, and I wish you the best,” a DFW official told the pilots of the flight, according to audio shared on Reddit.
Spirit first began operations as a Michigan-based trucking company before turning to the sky and taking flight in the 1980s. The company had become synonymous with its bright yellow planes and very cheap seating.
Spirit was hanging onto hope that the Trump administration would bail out the company with a $500 million deal, but the embattled low-cost airline couldn’t get enough backing.
The troubled company had a rough time turning a profit since it was hit hard by the dramatic decrease in travel from Covid restrictions in 2020.
Travelers were also less likely to fly with Spirit, as the airline had flown about 1.7 million passengers in February, down half a million from February 2025.
Seating capacity had also been reduced to half as many seats as it had back in May 2024, the Associated Press reported.
Spirit had filed for bankruptcy twice in less than a year and the rising fuel costs associated with the ongoing Iran war were most likely the final nail in the coffin.
The abrupt closure of operations will leave tens of thousands of workers jobless and scrambling for employment.
The airline had employed approximately 17,000 personnel by the end of 2025, NBC News reported.
As the potential for a shutdown loomed over the airline industry earlier Friday night, passengers began to worry about the future of air travel.
“I think that if without spirit or without like cheaper airlines, the price of other airlines is going to shoot up, and I think that’ll be a big problem, especially for me, because I fly a lot,” Detroit Metro Airport traveler Lucas Trivedi told CBS News Detroit.
“I mean, I’d probably have to pick the next cheapest way. I don’t even know what I’m going to do, probably look at Expedia and find the cheapest option,” student Mariel Vargas-vonBreymann said.
Passengers at LAX became frustrated hours before the 2 a.m. announcement as their flights began to be cancelled.
“There’s no workers here, so everybody’s just lost,” one traveler told NBCLA, in front of an empty ticket counter.
“Nobody’s there, and I’m kinda confused. I’m not gonna talk to an AI to figure out what I needed to do,” Rayeed Abubaker told the outlet.
Passengers who had tickets for the now-cancelled flights will receive automatic refund payments back into their accounts, the airline said Saturday.
Those who used a travel agent were told to go through their liaison, while others who had used another method of booking, including vouchers or Free Spirit points will have to wait as repayment will be determined in bankruptcy court, the company said.
Southwest Airlines has stepped forward to assist travelers who were impacted by Spirit’s cessation of operations, offering special access fares.
It was not immediately known what will happen to the company’s properties, including its jets, following Saturday’s shutdown
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