US EditionTalks to Bail Out Spirit Airlines Stall as Company Teeters Toward Collapse
The airline has only days of cash left as lenders resist a $500 million rescue that would give the federal government up to a 90% stake.
- Spirit Airlines confirmed no bankruptcy court hearing will occur on Thursday as negotiations regarding a potential $500 million government rescue package continue with lenders, with creditors holding the power to block liquidation.
- The airline faces severe financial pressure from rising jet fuel costs tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, compounded by two failed mergers and strategic blunders that depleted cash reserves in recent years.
- Creditors including Ares Management Corp. and Cyrus Capital oppose the proposed deal, which would grant the government up to 90 percent equity; liquidation would eliminate more than 17,000 jobs and generate billions in claims.
- President Donald Trump expressed interest in a government takeover at the "right price," yet Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy publicly questioned throwing good money after bad, while JetBlue Airways CEO Joanna Geraghty said "Never say never" on assistance.
- With only enough available cash for a matter of "days," the administration is weighing invoking the Defense Production Act to utilize Spirit for military transport operations, positioning a post-bankruptcy sale as the likely outcome.
76 Articles
76 Articles
Associated Press News
Trump says he’s still considering a taxpayer-funded deal to bail out Spirit Airlines
President Donald Trump says he’s still looking at a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines. “We’re looking at it. If we could do it, we’ll do it.
No to a Spirit Airlines bailout
President Donald Trump is currently considering a bailout or partial nationalization of the floundering budget airline Spirit Airlines. The president’s instinct to intervene is the same instinct that led Spirit down the path that resulted in two bankruptcies in 2024 and 2025. In 2023, President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice sued to block the proposed merger of Spirit and JetBlue Airlines, where the latter was set to acquire Spirit’s assets f…
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Spirit Airlines Crisis Exposes Cracks in the Budget Airline Model
The war in Iran is stress-testing budget airlines, highlighting weaknesses in the model itself and raising fresh concerns for investors, travelers and policymakers. Jet fuel prices have roughly doubled since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and…
Rising fuel costs put budget airlines under pressure as Spirit faces bankruptcy
As the war with Iran sends jet fuel prices soaring, several U.S. budget airlines are asking the federal government for a $2.5 billion lifeline. The appeal comes as Spirit Airlines faces potential bankruptcy and is negotiating separately for a $500 million government bailout. Reuters aviation, transportation and technology correspondent David Shepardson joins Geoff Bennet to discuss.
Should the federal government save Spirit Airlines?
No-frills carrier Spirit Airlines is bankrupt. Now President Donald Trump is mulling a federal takeover of the company. Can the U.S. government make the planes run on time?Spirit Airlines employs 14,000 people and “maybe the federal government should help that one out,” Trump said to reporters last week, per Reuters. But there is hesitation in Trump’s cabinet, and among the president’s free-market fellow Republicans. There has been “a lot of mon…
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