Spirit Airlines will go bankrupt to benefit these airlines

Just hours after Spirit Airlines went bankrupt, rival airlines announced new flight plans.

Airlines had actually been working on route changes for months as Spirit’s grounding became increasingly likely. Several new flights are starting this week. This comes after Spirit suddenly closed its doors Saturday night, leaving thousands of customers stranded.

The swift move shows how airlines are competing for Spirit’s valuable assets, including airport gates and a customer base that now has one fewer choice when making reservations. Analysts say this could further accelerate airfare increases after fuel prices soared this year.

Barclays airline analyst Brandon Oglensky said in a note Monday that Spirit’s already reduced summer schedule, which was about 1.5% of U.S. domestic capacity, could have a broader impact on the industry and travelers’ wallets.

“In addition to capturing direct revenue from Spirit’s previous network, we believe industry pricing could be significantly beneficial for nearly all airlines given the reduction in excess point-to-point capacity, which will likely result in even higher unit revenues in the near term,” he said.

For now, other airlines are announcing new flights to fill the void left by Spirit’s absence and compete for Spirit’s routes and gates.

Breeze Airways flies from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Charleston, South Carolina. The airline also plans to operate year-round service from Atlantic City to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina and Tampa, Florida.

jet blue airlinesformerly the second-largest airline at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, home of Spirit, announced new service from the airport to a number of destinations, including Barranquilla and Cali, Colombia. Baltimore; Charlotte, North Carolina. And Indianapolis. It also said it would add new nonstop flights to Chicago from its South Florida hub. Detroit; Houston. Nashville, Tennessee and Ponce, Puerto Rico.

“We are ramping up our efforts to ensure the availability of air service in the Fort Lauderdale market,” JetBlue President Marty St. George said in a release announcing the changes.

JetBlue is also increasing capacity from Fort Lauderdale to Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Raleigh-Durham; Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic;

This is not a new initiative for carriers. Late last summer, days after Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a year, the airline also added service to airports where Spirit had a large presence. At the time, Spirit was cutting back on flights to cut costs in hopes of emerging from bankruptcy in mid-2026.

That didn’t happen, and the Trump administration’s loan negotiations for up to $500 million to keep the airline afloat collapsed late last week.

Spirit, the country’s famous low-cost airline, collapsed after years of complex problems, some under management’s control and others not, ultimately becoming too much to overcome.

In addition to rolling out new routes, other airlines, including United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, jumped in over the weekend to cap fares for stranded travelers who booked flights on Spirit.

Spirit said it is automatically processing refunds to customers.

United Airlines announced Saturday that about 14,000 Spirit customers booked tickets on United Airlines. Southwest Airlines announced it had accepted more than 20,000 people.

“If you fly with us this time of year, we know you’ll love what you get with your ticket to the world’s largest airline,” David Kinselman, United’s chief customer officer, said in a memo early Saturday. “We offer more transatlantic and transpacific flights than any other airline, taking you across the country and around the world. Plus, you’ll receive friendly, reliable service from the best team in the industry.”

Now, the industry is looking at other low-cost carriers after the Spirit bankruptcy.

Rising fuel prices since the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in February have been particularly painful for low-cost airlines, which lack the huge credit card and corporate travel customer bases that major airlines enjoy.

Spirit’s one-time potential merger partner, fellow low-cost carrier Frontier; will report earnings on Tuesday, but its executives will face questions about its plans and outlook for the year.