The cheapest airline operating throughout the United States has announced an important decision.
Spirit Airlines shares the news that it will be closing its business and canceling all flights on May 2, 2026.
The airline has faced a serious economic crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spirit has, several times in recent years, warned of its poor financial health, stating that there were “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue conducting operations.
The airline has filed for bankruptcy twice, most recently in August 2025.
In 2025, Spirit was ranked the eighth largest US airline by seat capacity.
The airline was widely recognized for offering ultra-cheap base fares in the US, charging more for things like carry-on luggage.
What happens now to the stranded passengers?
Spirit had bookings for about 9,000 flights from May 2 through the end of the month, for a total of 1.8 million seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Thus, over the next month, it is estimated that 300 flights and 60,000 passengers will be affected each day.
The sudden cancellation will further increase U.S. domestic flight rates across the aviation industry.
Now that Spirit has canceled 2% of the U.S. domestic flights it planned to operate this summer, fares are likely to rise across the industry.
In the past 25 years, eight key U.S. airlines have filed for bankruptcy, but the complete closure of an airline is much more unusual.
Spirit’s closure is seen as the first closure of a major U.S. airline since Midway Airlines collapsed following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
According to CNN, other US airlines have stepped up their support for affected passengers.
However, the outlet did not mention what the policy would be to follow by these airlines, but did mention American Airlines officials, who said it had “immediately implemented fare caps on main cabin tickets for Spirit routes where we also offer nonstop service.”
