‘Godspeed my friend’ as terminals go dark
Spirit Airlines kiosks at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on May 2, hours after the carrier shut down.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
BALTIMORE/NEW YORK — Spirit Airlines was hours away from its final flights Friday afternoon. Jeremiah Burton was hours away from his first.
“It’s my first time flying,” Burton, a 45-year-old air conditioning and heating technician, told CNBC at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to depart for New Orleans to visit his daughter and her newborn twins.
“To tell you the truth, I just went online and Googled the cheapest airline ticket,” he said, adding that he paid about $500 for the trip late last month. He was scheduled to return on May 6.
While Burton waited for his flight, Spirit was making final preparations to shut down overnight, ending a three-decade run that brought discount air travel to millions across the United States and as far away as Peru. Spirit canceled international flights on Thursday, to start, so travelers, planes, and flight crews wouldn’t be stranded. The airline said it flew more than 50,000 people the day leading up to its collapse.
Spirit bondholders rejected an 11th-hour bailout proposal from the Trump administration that could have included up to $500 million to keep the ailing airline afloat. The deal would have put the government ahead of other bondholders’ claims and given it an up to 90% stake in the airline.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Spirit CEO Dave Davis to tell him there was no deal and that bondholders and the government were far from an agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bondholders sent a letter to Spirit’s board, confirming that the end was near.
Terminals go quiet
A self-check-in kiosk at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport displays an “Operational Update” message after Spirit Airlines announced it was ceasing operations early Saturday amid an impasse in talks with some creditors over a $500 million government bailout plan, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, May 2, 2026
REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
Before dawn on Saturday, Spirit’s website and app were papered over with the message that operations had ended. “To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” it read.
By noon, LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal, an Art Deco facility that opened in 1940 and was home to Pan Am’s Clippers — and, most recently, home to Spirit at the New York airport — was nearly silent.
Cibo Express closed half a day early with no customers to serve. CNBC saw the last Transportation Security Administration officer who was sent home early. Screens on the arc of yellow kiosks read: “We regret to inform you that Spirit Airlines has ceased global operations.”
“It has been an honor to bring friends and families closer together for 34 years,” it said at the bottom, with a QR code with next steps.
United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways…
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