What the End of Spirit Airlines Means for the Future of Flying

Summary

Podcast Summary: "What the End of Spirit Airlines Means for the Future of Flying"

The Daily – The New York Times
Air Date: May 7, 2026
Host: Rachel Abrams
Main Guests: Neeraj Chokshi (aviation reporter), Lindsay Garrison (NYT reporter), Colleen Burns (Spirit Airlines flight attendant)

---

Episode Overview

This episode explores the sudden shutdown of Spirit Airlines, a company that fundamentally transformed American air travel with an ultra-low cost model. Host Rachel Abrams delves into Spirit’s storied history, what made it so revolutionary—and controversial—why it failed, the emotional reaction from employees and passengers, and the broader implications for the airline industry and the future of affordable flying in the US.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

---

1. Spirit Airlines – The End of an Era

[00:32–05:10]

• Spirit Airlines, once an industry innovator, abruptly ceased operations, impacting 17,000 workers and tens of thousands of travelers.
• The closure triggered significant public grief and nostalgia for what Spirit represented—affordable access to air travel for everyday Americans.

“Spirit Airlines was this symbol of affordable travel in America… For a large segment of the population, it was the only way for them to be able to fly to places.”
— Neeraj Chokshi [05:10]

---

2. Origins and the Ultra-Low Cost Model

[05:43–09:46]

• Spirit started in the 1960s as a trucking company, pivoted to charter flights, and became Spirit Airlines in 1992.
• In the mid-2000s, it adopted the ultra-low cost strategy, inspired by Ryanair in Europe: extreme cost-cutting and “unbundling” of services.
• Spirit’s CEO Ben Baldonza became the face of no-frills air travel—charging for everything beyond the basic seat (carry-ons, water, boarding passes).

“Why should we have to raise everybody's ticket price when only some people want to eat or drink on board?... We think it gives customers more choice.”
— Ben Baldonza [06:42]

“If you want to save $150 round trip, we're a great deal. Come fly us.”
— Ben Baldonza [07:37]

• Notorious edgy/raunchy advertising campaigns (“MILF sale”, $69 fares) generated outrage, media coverage, and brand recognition.

---

3. The “Spirit Effect” & Democratization of Air Travel

[10:36–14:05]

• Despite jokes and criticism, Spirit grew rapidly, serving 10 million passengers by 2012, 20 million by 2016.
• The “Spirit Effect”: wherever Spirit flew, competitors had to lower fares, expanding air travel access to first-timers and lower-income families.
• Personal story from flight attendant Colleen Burns, describing the pride in enabling blue-collar families to travel affordably.

“We did cause the fares to be lower. They called it the Spirit effect… I really started to have pride in Spirit and our brand and what we did and the accessibility that we brought.”
— Colleen Burns [11:32–13:37]

---

4. Why Spirit Failed

[14:13–21:36]

• Imitation by Legacy Airlines: Big carriers launched “basic economy” fares, matching Spirit’s pricing but with more perks and reliability, undermining Spirit’s edge.
• Pandemic Fallout: COVID hit the entire industry, but with the recovery, fares remained low while pilot shortages drove up labor costs.
• Loss of Cost Advantage: As costs rose (labor, fuel), Spirit could no longer offer significantly lower fares, erasing their competitive advantage.

“If their costs are starting to look a lot like the same costs that the big airlines have, then they've lost their edge.”
— Neeraj Chokshi [16:42]

---

5. Blocked Merger and Final Collapse

[18:41–22:01]

• Spirit tried to merge with rival Frontier, then JetBlue stepped in with a higher offer.
• The Justice Department blocked the JetBlue-Spirit merger, fearing higher fares and loss of the low-cost model.
• A series of bankruptcies followed; the Iran war in 2025 sent fuel prices skyrocketing, dooming their recovery efforts.
• Government talks over a bailout failed due to lender disagreements, forcing overnight shutdown.

“It's definitely death by a thousand cuts. I mean, Spirit just had an unforgiving few years and they just could not catch a break.”
— Neeraj Chokshi [27:40]

---

6. The Human Side: Employees and Travelers

[23:00–26:38]

• Emotional interviews with Colleen Burns, a Spirit attendant (10+ years), sharing grief and loss of the “family” that Spirit created among staff.
• Passengers online and in airports expressed surprise and sadness, recognizing Spirit’s role in making travel affordable and accessible.

“Spirit's the catalyst that, like, brought us all together. And, like, that's gone now… The black and yellow in our blood… it's going to be hard to ever find that again.”
— Colleen Burns [24:06–25:41]

“Spirit never did me wrong… like, do y' all not understand how much flights cost nowadays?”
— Spirit Passenger [27:08]

---

7. What Spirit’s Demise Means for the Future of Flying

[28:14–31:51]

• Industry Implications:

  • Debate over whether the merger block accelerated Spirit’s demise; experts are divided.
  • Other ultra-low cost carriers (Frontier, Allegiant) face differing outlooks. Allegiant thrives by avoiding direct competition; Frontier struggles similarly to Spirit.

• Rising Fares & Stratification:

  • With Spirit’s exit, fares are expected to rise, and bigger airlines are increasingly focused on serving high-paying “elite” passengers.
  • Even before its collapse, Spirit was starting to chase premium travelers by rebundling fares and adding premium seating options.

“Spirit in its early years really democratized air travel… There's this sense that, yeah, maybe the industry is headed in a direction where it's not as focused on serving everybody.”
— Neeraj Chokshi [31:04]

• The end of Spirit signals a likely retreat from the era of truly cheap flying and a possible widening of the divide between those who can afford to fly comfortably and those who can’t.

---

8. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Spirit’s Unapologetic No-Frills Pitch:

  “Our airline's not for everyone… But if you want to save $150 round trip, we're a great deal. Come fly us.”
  — Ben Baldonza [07:37]

• Cultural Impact:

  “Spirit has been through so many, like, changes and like, revivals… We're the underdog story.”
  — Colleen Burns [03:39]

• Employee Grief:

  “We’re losing our family.”
  — Colleen Burns [23:03]

• Passenger Appreciation:

  “Spirit was good for, you know, the working consumer who loves to travel, who knows how to pack light. I’ve taken Spirit a lot of places.”
  — Spirit Airlines Passenger [26:38]

---

Important Timestamps

• [02:23–03:35] — Colleen Burns recounts her first day and Spirit’s unique camaraderie
• [05:10–06:30] — Spirit as democratic, affordable air travel, and the suddenness of the shutdown
• [06:42–07:37] — CEO Ben Baldonza explains Spirit’s business model and philosophy
• [10:36–11:28] — The “Spirit Effect”: impact on competitors and fare pricing
• [14:13–15:35] — How bigger airlines copied (and outcompeted) Spirit’s basic economy model
• [18:41–20:57] — Saga of failed merger attempts and regulatory intervention
• [23:03–25:41] — Emotional response to the shutdown from Colleen Burns and her colleagues
• [27:40–28:46] — Analysis of the role of regulatory decisions in Spirit’s demise
• [29:02–31:04] — Broader look at the future of budget flying and the increasing industry focus on elite travelers

---

Tone and Style

The episode maintains The Daily’s signature measured, humanizing, and slightly mournful tone, blending journalistic analysis with powerful personal testimony. There is a sense of nostalgia for what Spirit meant at its best, alongside clear-eyed acknowledgment of its flaws and the market forces that led to its collapse.

---

Conclusion

The fall of Spirit Airlines marks not just the end of a company but a potential turning point in American air travel. As Rachel Abrams and her guests reveal, Spirit’s relentless cheapness changed expectations for what it meant to fly—but its vulnerabilities, both structural and external, proved fatal. With the industry moving toward serving wealthier travelers, the question is left open: Will anyone fill the gap Spirit leaves behind, or is the era of truly affordable flights over?

---

Transcript

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Brought to you by Apple Card. Hey, you could be earning 2% daily cash back on that purchase and that one and even that one. That's because Apple card users earn 2% daily cash back on every purchase, including everyday items they buy online or in store when using their Apple Card. With Apple Pay, not an Apple Card customer, you can apply in the Wallet app on iPhone subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs bank usa. Sign Salt Lake City branch terms and more at Apple Co Benefits from the New York Times.

[Rachel Abrams]

I'm Rachel Abrams and this is the Daily. When Spirit Airlines shut down over the weekend, it brought an end to a company that had revolutionized air travel in the United States with an ultra low cost approach. So today I talked to my colleague Neeraj Chokshi about the so called Spirit effect on air travel, why it unraveled, and whether the problems that doomed Spirit could spread to other airlines. And my colleague Lindsey Garrison talks to a Spirit flight attendant about what Spirit represented. It's Thursday, may 7th.

[Colleen Burns]

Hey, Lindsay, this is Colleen.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Yeah, hey Colleen, nice to meet you.

[Colleen Burns]

Hey, nice to meet you as well.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Thank you again for your time. I'm really grateful and yeah, of course to say I'm really sorry that this is the circumstance under which we're talking, but I really thank you again. Could we just start by you just telling me a little bit about, you know, who you are and when you started working for Spirit Airlines?

[Colleen Burns]

Yeah. So my name is Colleen Burns and I am a Spirit Airlines flight attendant. And I was, which sounds crazy to say. I was Spirit Airlines flight attendant for 10 years. I had actually just started my 11th year with the company.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Got it. Do you remember your first day on the job?

[Colleen Burns]

Yeah, I was so nervous and I just remember that first crew, like when I got there, they were like so incredibly kind to me. They were like, oh my God, it's your first flight. Like sometimes we happened more back in the day, but we used to pull pranks on each other when you were a new flight attendant. And so they had the pilots tell me that something was wrong with the air in the cabin and that I had to do an air test and I needed to collect an air sample in a trash bag and bring it into the cockpit. And I was like, I don't remember learning about this at all. And like, oh my gosh, I didn't retain anything. Then like walking through this cabin on my very first flight, operating as a flight attendant with a giant white trash bag above my head collecting air. I go into the cockpit and the pilots both look at me and just start busting out laughing, Busting out laughing. But we used to do silly things like that to one another all the time. And it's something that I just don't. I don't hear those stories from other airlines. There's just something really special about being a Spirit flight attendant.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Yeah.

[Colleen Burns]

What.

[Lindsay Garrison]

What is it, do you think? Like, what is that thing?

[Colleen Burns]

I. I think that Spirit has been through so many, like, changes and like, revivals and, you know, we went from being like the absolute most hated airline to, to be honest, towards the end, like, people loved us. And I think all of us went through that journey with Spirit and we all had so much pride in how far Spirit had come. I mean, we're the underdog story. And I had no idea. None of, you know, we. We really all thought that Spirit was going to pull through.

[Rachel Abrams]

Neeraj, welcome to the daily.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Hey, thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Rachel Abrams]

So, Neeraj, as you know, Spirit Airlines, they went under over the weekend. And this comes after the White House had tried to save the airline. They did not save the airline. And what was so interesting was that this airline that had basically been a punchline for years sparked so much grief. There was this outpouring of people talking about how sad they were that it was going away. Our colleague Lindsay Garrison talked to a flight attendant who said how much the airline meant to her and how much she saw that the airline meant to other people. And so I want to start this conversation with you explaining to us why the death of this airline has struck such a chord with people.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, I mean, Spirit Airlines was this symbol of affordable travel in America. It allowed people to take trips that they couldn't otherwise afford. For a large segment of the population, it was the only way for them to be able to fly to places. And the end came really suddenly. They decided late last week it was time to wind down, and by Saturday morning, they shut down. That left 17,000 people who were directly employed or indirectly employed by Spirit out of work. Tens of thousands of people who had tickets, no longer had flights and elected gap hole in the airline market.

[Rachel Abrams]

I wonder if you could rewind the clock a little bit and tell us about where this airline came from. Like, what was its origin story and how did it end up symbolizing low cost air travel in the United States?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, so Spirit's origin actually dates all the way back to the 60s. It started as a trucking company. They got into travel, they got into charter flights. They renamed to spirit Airlines in 92. But most people didn't really know who they were. It wasn't until the mid 2000s that Spirit adopted the business model that we all know it for. And that's the ultra low cost air travel model. The idea is simple. You just cut costs as much as you can and you pass that along to passengers in the form of cheap fares. It was popularized in Europe by Ryanair, which is still going strong today, and they thought that they could bring it to the US with success.

[Rachel Abrams]

And can you just explain that model? Like, what did they do or cut to actually keep those ticket prices so low?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, they did a lot. The key thing that they did, which we all know them for, is unbundling.

[Ben Baldonza]

Why should we have to raise everybody's ticket price when only some people want to eat or drink on board? We don't think that's fair. We think it gives customers more choice.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

And the real champion of this idea was Spirit's chief executive at the time, Ben Beldonza.

[Ben Baldonza]

Customers are welcome to bring water on the plane with them. We're not stopping that. But we sell what we sell.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

They started to separate everything out so that seat assignments cost extra money, even water. You're paying for carry ons, having them print your boarding pass, but the seat itself could be really cheap. So if you didn't need some of those things, you could actually buy a really dirt cheap ticket.

[Rachel Abrams]

I didn't realize this, that they literally charge you to print your boarding pass. It's like they're charging for everything except flying. Like everything else is considered a luxury. Just to keep the ticket as cheap as possible.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Right. And the idea is that, you know, some people don't need it. They're happy to pull it up on their phones or they don't need customer service, so why would they pay the extra fee for it?

[Ben Baldonza]

I recognize our airline's not for everyone. If you want to be coddled in the airport, if you want an enormous amount of legroom, if you want a free Coke, we're not your airline, and we're not built to be that airline. But if you want to save $150 round trip, we're a great deal. Come fly us.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

And they publicized us all with these racy, provocative ads. One of them was what they called the MILF sale. That's an acronym that some people may know. It's kind of a raunchy meaning.

[Rachel Abrams]

Yep. From American Pie, I believe.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, exactly right. But for Spirit, you know, it means many islands. Low fares.

[Rachel Abrams]

A gross expression taken from the movie American Pie was adopted by Spirit Airlines.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

I mean, and they Go viral. Right. I mean, they're not only getting a lot of attention on their own, but, you know, news organizations start to cover them.

[Social Media Commentators]

Spirit airlines has a $69 campaign. You know, if you don't understand the 69 reference, then Google it.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

They start selling tickets for numbers that, you know, have other meanings for, you know, let's say $69.

[Rachel Abrams]

I didn't know any of this. I am horrified.

[Social Media Commentators]

Social media is buzzing about this. On our Fox 29 Facebook page, Lori wrote, how about grow up? Victoria wrote, I read the ad and kept waiting to be shocked. So much hoopla over that.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

And Spirit starts to get a lot of attention. People start to kind of get to know this airline.

[Rachel Abrams]

Right. More ads mean more controversy, means more news coverage, which means more attention. But beyond all of that, how was the actual business model received? Like, given the fact that the business model itself was kind of a novel idea here in the United States?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, there was a lot of skepticism. Consumers saw it as nickel and diming them. Investors had doubts that people would really want to fly on an airline like this or that the model could work. And they were the butt of a lot of jokes.

[Late Night Show Host]

This is pretty crazy here. Spirit Airlines is considering a new fee to talk with a human face to face during check in.

[Rachel Abrams]

Yeah.

[Late Night Show Host]

Which explains the company's new slogan. Spirit Airlines. Why are you flying Spirit Airlines?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

I mean, on late night shows, the idea that, like, you would have to pay for a water bottle while flying or a printed boarding pass, I mean, it just is outrageous. The CEO of Spirit Airlines said people shouldn't come to Spirit if they want lots of legroom. He said, we call it Spirit Airlines because there's only enough room for your Spirit. And if I'm being honest, even that's going to get a little crushed. But, you know, they embraced it. And when they got criticism, they would push back and say, look, we're here to make travel affordable. That's what this is about. And take it or leave it. And it was slow at first, but then people start to fly in Spirit, and it starts to take off. And they go public in 2011, and by the next year, they're flying about 10 million passengers. They're doing really well, and by 2016, they're up to 20 million passengers.

[Rachel Abrams]

And what was behind all that growth? I can't imagine it was just the racy MILF ads.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, I mean, they are stealing travelers from other airlines, but there's also this idea that they're bringing people in off the sidelines. So people who normally wouldn't be flying, but they see an opportunity because the flights are cheap enough, it might be making that choice instead of ordering takeout. And this is something that Ben Baldonzo himself says is he's like, we're not necessarily competing just with other airlines, we're competing with other forms of spending. And this new approach that Spirit has is starting to affect the wider industry where when Spirit enters an airport for the first time, you see fares drop. Other airlines have to compete and so they have to reduce their fares. It actually becomes the subject of academic study. It's called the Spirit effect.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Did you feel like Spirit was different than other airlines?

[Colleen Burns]

Oh, yeah. I mean, we were the market disruptor. We did cause the fares to be lower. They called it the Spirit effect. The first time this really resonated with me was when I was flying back from Fort Lauderdale and I did not have my lanyard on. I was out of uniform and I sat next to to this gentleman and his son and we had a little bit of turbulence. And then you could hear the hydraulics. And that's always something that either freaks people out or, you know, it sounds kind of like a dog. It sounds like something. And it's normal. It's completely normal on the airbuses. And I could see him getting panicked. I was like, yes, it's normal. It's just the hydraulics way, it's okay. And so we're sitting there and we're, you know, I'm just kind of talking to him and he like has a moment that he's like, wait, how did you know that was okay? How did you know that sound was, Are you just telling me that? And I like laughed again. And I was like, I was like, I'm not wearing my lanyard. I'm actually a Spirit. I was like, I promise it's normal. And he was like, oh, okay. Well, then he started talking to me and I remember this gentleman being like, you guys make it so affordable for me to take my son on these trips every once in a while. You know, it sounded like he shared custody with his son. So this was something very special that he liked to do with him when he had him. He was a blue collar worker. He was like, I'm terrified of flying, but I really love being able to do this and love being able to try taking my son to see different places. And that was a moment for me that I was just like, not that I didn't already have pride, but I really started to have pride and spirit and our brand and what we did and the accessibility that we brought because we did. We had so many first. We had so many first time flyers, so many families, so many people that never would have gotten the opportunity to fly if it wasn't for us. And I really loved that we had a carrier that was able to offer that to people that you got your seat and like you were able to fly the $49 round trip ticket and hop on a flight for the weekend to see your family that you normally wouldn't have been able to do because all you cared about was getting from point A to point B safely. You didn't need the super fancy seats. You didn't need the pretzel snacks. You didn't need the single pour of Coca Cola. Like it was about getting there and it was about the journey that you were going to have once you got there. We were able to connect people that otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford to be connected.

[Rachel Abrams]

So, Naraj, it sounds like at least for a while, Spirit was really making progress, revolutionizing travel. When did things start going south?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Well, a few things start to happen. The first big thing is that Spirit becomes a victim of its own success. They can't be ignored anymore. And they're flying in a lot of places where the big airlines are flying too. And so the big airlines introduced something called basic economy, which is basically a Spirit competing fare. It comes with a lot of restrictions. It doesn't include a checked bag or carry on bag. You often can't pick your own seat, but you can pay for those. Right. Just like Spirit. But the problem is that these bigger airlines, they also have a lot of resources. So.

[Rachel Abrams]

Right, because if you have a choice between United and Spirit and they cost the same, you're probably going to go with the bigger airline.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Right. Spirit may be flying on a route twice a day and United might fly the same route eight times. If your flight gets canceled, there's a backup. There's also customer service. There's all these other benefits for flying with the big airlines. And so if you're looking at the same cost, you might be inclined to choose them. And that poses a really big problem for Spirit. They can't really lower fares much more than they already have. And so to compete with the big airlines, they have to start to improve quality. They have to get you to where you're going on time more often. They have to have better customer service. And that's expensive. And that puts a lot of pressure on Spirit's business model. And keep in mind also the big guys, they have more profitable seats at the front of the plane so they can subsidize the basic economy seats. Spirit doesn't have that.

[Rachel Abrams]

Right. Spirit does not have a $2,000 business class seat.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Rachel Abrams]

Okay. So they're feeling the heat from the bigger airlines. Tell us sort of what happens from there.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah. So, you know, the pandemic obviously hurts all airlines equally, but then there's this faster than expected recovery. People really want to travel, and so there's this fierce competition going on, and that keeps fares low, makes it hard for Spirit to earn a profit. At the same time, a lot of pilots end up retiring during the pandemic. But then, you know, in the years after, airlines really need them back. And so they end up paying a lot more to stay competitive. And that starts with the big airlines, but then everybody else has to do their best to match because there just aren't that many pilots around. So Spirit starts to see that labor, one of their biggest costs, is going up, and their edge is all about costs. And if their costs are starting to look a lot like the same costs that the big airlines have, then they've lost their edge. So they're in this position where costs are rising, competition is fierce, and there are all these other problems that they're just having to deal with. And so then they decide they need to do something to get back on track.

[Rachel Abrams]

We'll be right back.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Summer. It's when we share more time, more memories, and more photos. And at, at and t, the iPhone 17 Pro is your summer essential. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. You don't even have to turn your phone. And AT&T makes sharing those pics with everyone easy. Right now, at, at and t, ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible iPhone. Trade in any condition requires trade in of iPhone 15 or higher, excluding iPhones 16 and 17. E requires eligible plan terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit att.comiphone or visit an ATT store for details. Support for this podcast comes from GoodRx. You probably already know allergy season is here, and if so, you need to know that seasonal allergy medication starts at just $10 with GoodRx. GoodRx lets you compare prescription prices at over 70,000 pharmacies and instantly find discounts of up to 80%. GoodRx is not insurance, but even if you have Insurance or Medicare, GoodRx may beat your copay. Get allergy savings on the GoodRx app or go to goodrx.com thedaily with no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep. Even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital1.com bank guy. Capital1NA member FDIC.

[Rachel Abrams]

Okay, so at this point, Niraj, it sounds like Spirit is really getting squeezed in a whole bunch of different ways. What do they do to try to get back on track?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, well, one thing they try to do is, is they actually try to merge with one of their rivals, Frontier Airlines, which is another budget carrier. They announced this in 2022, and the thinking was that they're struggling, things are hard, but if they could create this big national low cost carrier, that they might actually be able to kind of make some moves. You know, they might be able to take on the bigger airlines in a better way. But then JetBlue Airways decides it actually wants to acquire Spirit, and it makes a better offer, and it ends up squeezing Frontier out, and they go forward with a JetBlue spirit merger. But then the Justice Department says, wait a second, we like Spirit. Spirit does good things in the airline industry. It keeps fares low. And so they sue to stop the merger because they're afraid that if JetBlue takes Spirit in, they're going to change the way Spirit's planes work. They're going to change the business model, and they're going to end up raising fares.

[Rachel Abrams]

They're basically arguing that if these two airlines merge, it would be bad for consumers. It's basically an antitrust argument.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Exactly. Exactly. One of the things that JetBlue said during the merger process is that we're going to take some seats out of Spirit's plane. Spirit packs in the seats really tightly to fit as many people as they can on a plane. JetBlue says, we're going to add a little leg room, make it a little more comfortable. But the Justice Department says, well, wait a second, that means that your costs are going to go up. You're going to have to charge more to cover them.

[Rachel Abrams]

And what was Spirit's counterargument to that?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, you know, Spirit and JetBlue were saying, look, this is going to be good for consumers because we're going to have more market power. You know, JetBlue is a low cost airline. It's not what spirit is. But JetBlue does compete to keep fares low, and that together, you know, as a national player operating in all these airports, we would be able to actually serve consumers better.

[Rachel Abrams]

Basically, they're saying if we can pool our resources together, we're going to be able to compete better with the big guys. And ergo, we're going to be able to give customers lower fares.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Right. You know, with. With enough scale, we have the resources to keep fares low in a lot more places. But then the federal court judge decides that Spirit's presence at an airport can lower fares 5, 10%, and we need that in the market. And this merger is anti competitive.

[Rachel Abrams]

Okay, so merger doesn't happen. Where does Spirit go from here?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

So they file for bankruptcy in 2024, they get out of bankruptcy in 2025, but then file for bankruptcy again in 2025. And then coming into this year, the Iran war starts, and that sends fuel prices skyrocketing. And Spirit has a plan to get out of bankruptcy, but then it seems like with fuel prices this high, that plan is just not going to work.

[Rachel Abrams]

Right. That would be a challenge for any airline to suddenly have to shoulder these rising fuel costs, but especially a challenge for an airline that is just gone through two bankruptcies and is really trying to keep its costs low to stay competitive.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Exactly. You know, labor costs have already gone up, fuel costs are now going up. Those are the two biggest costs for any airline. And so the Trump administration steps in and they say, you know, what can we do? These are a lot of jobs. This is an important airline to the economy.

[Rachel Abrams]

And on top of that, presumably, the optics of this do not look great. Right. Having an airline, specifically an airline that caters to working class people, go under because of a war started under the Trump administration.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Exactly. And they float this idea of a $500 million lifeline. The government would step in and lend the company that money, but the government wants protection. You know, they don't want to lend money with no strings attached. They want to get preferential treatment over the other lenders that have lent Spirit money. And Spirit's existing lenders don't love that idea. So they continue talking. But late last week, it becomes clear that there's not really a path forward. There's just not a deal to be done. And so Spirit's lenders tell Spirit, you know, we think it's time for you to wind down. And, you know, they have to move quickly. Airlines are expensive. You can't announce that an airline is Going to shut down weeks in advance because a lot of people are going to start to peel away. And so on Friday, they continue flying. They fly 50,000 people. The last flight in lands in Dallas just after midnight. And Saturday morning at just after 2am they announce, we're done. Spirit Airlines is shut down.

[Lindsay Garrison]

When did you find out?

[Colleen Burns]

So this might make me choke up, but at about 11:00pm Called into a meeting by our AFA International President, Sarah Nelson. And I just remember seeing Sarah's face. Sorry. And I knew it was over. And she told us it was. It was over and that we were shutting down. Anna, we all cried a lot. It's been a really crazy 72ish hours for all of us because we're losing our family.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Are you hearing from colleagues and friends and.

[Colleen Burns]

Actually, I'm at one of my friend's house with about eight other flight attendants right now.

[Lindsay Garrison]

Oh, my gosh.

[Colleen Burns]

And it. It's like we're all grieving. We're all still here, but I think we're like, grieving the loss because, like, Spirit's the catalyst that, like, brought us all together. And, like, that's gone now. And after you've spent years dedicating this time to this company that you had some pride and you believed in and that you loved and you love the people that you work with just comes in ways. It comes in ways. You know, I kind of always thought, like, if something were to happen, like, I would walk away from aviation. And that last week I was like, there's no way. There's no way that I can walk away from aviation. It gets into your. It gets into your bones. Aviation. And I just, like, there's they're truly, like, thinking back on it and then, like, there isn't anything else that, that I want to do, but there's just something about it, the, you know, the black and yellow in our blood that I, you know, it's going to be hard to ever find that again for us. It's never going to be the same.

[Rachel Abrams]

Senor Raj, we mentioned earlier in our conversation that there's been this outpouring of grief from people who travel, who took spirit, who are so sad that it has gone away. Can you just describe for us what did that grief look like? What did it sound like since Spirit announced that it was going under on Saturday?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, you know, I think the immediate reaction for some people was surprise. We heard from people at airports on Saturday who had no idea this was coming and showed up and, you know, very quickly had to figure out how they were going to get home. But I think, you know, as frustrated as people were at times with Spirit, I think people really started to understand its place and appreciated it for what it was. This is a sad day.

[Colleen Burns]

Thousands of people that really depend on this low cost airline to travel that

[Neeraj Chokshi]

may not have otherwise gone anywhere. And I think seeing it gone is sad for a lot of people.

[Spirit Airlines Passenger]

Spirit was good for, you know, the working consumer who loves to travel, who knows how to pack light. I've taken Spirit a lot of places

[Neeraj Chokshi]

and, you know, looking online, you see this outpouring of tributes to Spirit. This is kind of heartbreaking because whenever I wanted to get like a cheap last minute flight somewhere, I'd be like, let's check Spirit. And now I won't be able to do that. And there were a lot of travelers out there who were able to do go on vacation because of airlines like Spirit.

[Spirit Airlines Passenger]

Spirit never did me wrong. Like, do y' all not understand how much flights cost nowadays? Like, on some real stuff, flights are super expensive.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

And so it really did have a place for people.

[Rachel Abrams]

What is your diagnosis ultimately, Neeraj, about what Spirit's downfall was? Like, how much should we attribute to the rising costs associated with the war in Iran or other headwinds faced by budget airlines or the airline industry as a whole?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

It's definitely death by a thousand cuts. I mean, Spirit just had an unforgiving few years and they just could not catch a break. They couldn't get stable footing. But, you know, I think it also shows that this business model itself is really unforgiving. There's not a lot of buffer. And so if one too many things go wrong, it's hard to recover.

[Rachel Abrams]

Hindsight is obviously 2020, but how should we be thinking about the merger that the doj blocked in 2024? Because at the time Spirit said we need this. The DOJ obviously didn't buy that argument. And now here we are.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, it's really set off this political debate. The Trump administration says, you know, look, the Biden administration interfered and now Spirit's going under. And some experts I've talked to agree. They say that, you know, had this merger gone forward, this new combined airline might have been able to sur and be vibrant and lower fares across the country. But then a lot of experts aren't so sure. Airline mergers are notoriously difficult to pull off. They cost lots of money, and there's just no guarantee that it would have ended well for JetBlue and Spirit.

[Rachel Abrams]

I want to talk about what Spirit's demise means for the future. Of air travel more broadly. Like, since they came on the scene, there have been other low cost budget airlines like Frontier and Allegiant. So what is the collapse of spit Spirit mean for those guys? If anything, it's a mixed picture.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

So you mentioned Allegiant and they actually adopted this model around the same time as Spirit, and they have actually done pretty well. They just actually are in the middle of acquiring another airline, Sun Country. And part of the reason for their success is unlike Spirit, Allegiant was able to stay off the radar of the big airlines. About 75% of their routes. They have zero competition, but, you know, others, not so much. Frontier, like Spirit, is facing a lot of the same problems.

[Rachel Abrams]

I do wonder also about the bigger airlines, the Uniteds, the Americans, et cetera. Like, I do wonder whether the bigger guys will now have just that much less incentive to offer competitive low cost fares. Do you foresee that happening?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, the experts that I talk to do think that fares are going to rise and they say that to some extent that probably was going to happen anyway. Fuel costs have gone up, airlines have to cover that. But for the big airlines, they're so much more focused on the elite traveler. They have really discovered that in the last few years that if they invest in those people who are willing to spend a lot of money, they can earn a lot of profit. And it's worked exceptionally well for airlines like Delta and United. They've invested in lounges, they've invested in their loyalty programs, they've invested in fancy seats and plane renovations, and it's really paying off. And so will they still compete for basic economy travelers? Sure, those are travelers that they see maybe someday upgrading to main economy and up to business class. But right now those airlines are really focused on the front of the plane, those nice big fancy seats.

[Rachel Abrams]

It's interesting because the Spirit era was really marked by these airlines stripping amenities out from what they offered so that they could offer low budget fares. But what you are describing sounds like almost going in the opposite direction, like more and more offering these luxury amenities. And it feels as though what you are describing is a real widening of the division that already exists in air travel and so many other facets of American life between the haves and the have nots.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Yeah, you know, I mean, Spirit in its early years really democratized air travel. But even before it shut down, Spirit was embracing catering to the premium traveler. They last summer announced plans to add premium seats at the front of their planes and they actually started to rebundle their fares. So that you could buy a single ticket that included a lot of the things that they once stripped out. So even before Spirit went under, we were already starting to see a retreat from that business model that was just sharply focused on low costs and low fares. And so there's this sense that, yeah, maybe the industry is headed in a direction where it's not as focused on serving everybody.

[Rachel Abrams]

Niraj, thank you so much.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Thank you.

[Rachel Abrams]

We'll be right back.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

This podcast is supported by Select Quote Select Quote believes that as complicated as it can seem, life insurance can play an important role in planning for the future. That's why for more than 40 years, SelectQuote has helped millions of families compare options from trusted insurance carriers nationwide. Selectquote can help you find the right policy for your needs in as little as 15 minutes. And some policies can take effect the day they're taken out. To learn more, visit selectquote.com thedaily that's selectquote.com thedaily protecting your home shouldn't be a headache.

[Robert Vinloen]

Most security companies make it one, trapping you in expensive multi year contracts and requiring service appointments. SimpliSafe is better with comprehensive 24. 7 professional monitoring for a fraction of the cost. Customize your system online in minutes and set it up in under an hour. No drilling stress and no long term contracts. SimpliSafe award winning security that earns your business every day. Right now get 50% off your [e-mail] the daily that's half [e-mail] Thedaily there's no safe like SimpliSafe.

Hey, I'm Robert Vinloen. I'm from New York Times Games and I'm here talking to people about wordle and the wordle Archive. Do you all play wordle?

[Social Media Commentators]

I play it every day.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

All right.

[Robert Vinloen]

I have something exciting to show you. It's the wordle Archive.

[Rachel Abrams]

Whaaaat? Okay.

[Neeraj Chokshi]

That's awesome.

[Robert Vinloen]

So now you can play every wordle that has ever existed. There's like a thousand puzzles.

[Rachel Abrams]

What?

[Neeraj Chokshi]

Wordle Archive.

[Rachel Abrams]

Oh, cool.

[Social Media Commentators]

Now you can do yesterday's wordle if you missed it.

[Robert Vinloen]

Yeah. New York Times game subscribers can now access the entire Wordle archive. Find out more at nytimes.com games

[Rachel Abrams]

here's what else you need to know today. Iran said on Wednesday that it was reviewing an American proposal to end the war. A day after President Trump paused a new US Military effort to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said that his government had not yet given its response to the US Proposal, and neither he nor President Trump said what it contained. And Tennessee Republicans proposed a congressional map aimed at diluting the state's lone majority black district, a swift response to last week's Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. The new Tennessee map slices the county containing Memphis, a majority black city, into three districts and likely will give Republicans the ability to flip Tennessee's lone remaining Democratic seat. And finally, ted Turner, the 20th century media titan who created CNN, died on Wednesday at the age of 87. When Turner debuted CNN in 1980, it revolutionized television news, presenting news at all hours of the day and eventually inspiring other media operations to follow suit. Today's episode was produced by Stella Tan, Lindsay Garrison and Diana Wynne. It was edited by Rob Zipko and Michael Benoit, with research help from Will Pieschel, and contains music by Chelsea Kelsey, Daniel, Marion Lozano, Alyssa Moxley, dan Powell, Pat McCusker, and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. That's it for the Daily I'm Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow.

[American Petroleum Institute Advertiser]

This podcast is supported by the American Petroleum Institute. Energy demand is rising, and the infrastructure we build today will power generations to come. We can deliver affordable, reliable and innovative energy solutions for all Americans, but we need to overhaul our broken permitting process to make that happen. It's time to modernize and build, because when America builds, America wins. Read API's plan to secure America's future at permitting reformnow. Org.