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Before Spirit: People Express, Continental, Braniff…the cheap fare model has never survived economic shocks.
ATA, even Southwest abandonded the model and became a legacy airline to survive.
How can you do an article on the collapse of Spirit and completely avoid the fact that Jet Blue tried to save Spirit by buying it? Liz Warren (D- Mass), Mayor Pete and the Biden administration killed the buyout, and the rest was history. Shortly thereafter Spirit filed for their first of two bankruptcies in less than 2 years. Thanks to misguided political theories, we now have one less competitor in the airline industry.
But the fact is, in the end, it was the totally useless and defenseless Iranian war that put the bullet in them (and likely many businesses), as well as raised living costs for all Americans, and wasted billions of our tax dollars on munitions not long after adding Trillions to the national deficit with a giant tax cut for the wealthy.
Not sure the same crew did us a favor by allowing United/Continental and American/USAir mergers.
Actually Greg S, facts matter. Jet fuel was more expensive during the Biden administration, and the bankruptcies were due to conditions then. By 2025 they had so much debt they could not recover. If Liz, Pete, and Joe had not stopped the merger, all those people would still have jobs. But Liz got a scalp for her trophy case.
Dominic, that merger was blocked by the DOJ. Unlike the current administration, the prior admin didn’t extort merger applicants for personal gain. Besides, if they expected a merger to save the company perhaps they’re doing something wrong.
You are so correct Dominic, facts do matter:
Jet fuel prices have increased significantly since the end of the Biden administration. As of May 2026, the average U.S. jet fuel price is approximately $4.13 per gallon. During the Biden administration (2021–2025), prices fluctuated but averaged much lower, specifically $2.19 per gallon throughout 2024