Spirit Airlines CEO: Airline ‘jumped off the runway’ and collapsed

Spirit Airlines has struggled for years, plagued by large, deep-pocketed airlines copying its business model, failed mergers, rising costs and, most recently, soaring jet fuel prices due to the Iran war. Then we faced our most unforgiving enemy: time.

“We seem to have run out of runway,” CEO Dave Davis said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

Spirit had hoped to emerge from bankruptcy, its second in less than a year, in mid-2026. Four days before the United States and Israel attacked Iran, where the conflict has sent fuel prices soaring, Davis and his team said they were optimistic the exit strategy could still work. However, that was conditional on fuel prices easing in April.

they didn’t.

“In late March and early April, it became clear that we were not going to survive this situation,” Davis said, noting that oil prices are above $100 a barrel.

To save the company from collapse, Davis and other members of Spirit consulted with the Trump administration about a bailout.

“Through some connections, we connected with various people in the government, including Secretary of Commerce (Howard) Lutnick,” he said. “These people…especially in commerce, are very eager to help.”

To keep the airline afloat, the Trump administration was working on a $500 million loan proposal in a plan that could give the U.S. government up to 90% of the airline’s equity. The bondholders disagreed and made a counter-offer.

“Our bondholders also worked hard to get something done,” Davis said.

There were wide gaps in the terms of the agreement between the two sides, and by Thursday it was clear it wasn’t going to work.

“It looks like we’re running out of time,” he said.

According to Spirit, approximately 17,000 direct and indirect airline employees lost their jobs due to the airline’s bankruptcy. Other airlines, sniffing blood, have continued to operate for nearly a year, if not longer, and within hours of the airline’s bankruptcy, Spirit customers who purchased tickets and Spirit’s yellow planes scrambled to add to their absent schedules.

Spirit hired Davis, a longtime airline executive who most recently served as chief financial officer. country of the sunin April 2025, about a month after the company first emerged from bankruptcy. Critics said the first bankruptcy avoided making bigger changes, such as selling more assets to cut costs.

Last August, the airline faced many of the same problems and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy again, but to save money it cut flights, laid off some Airbus planes and furloughed crew members.

Davis previously worked for Northwest Airlines. delta airlines In 2008, he also worked for US Airways, which merged with US Airways. american airlines In 2013. united airlines and southwest airlinesAfter a major wave of consolidation, four airlines control about 80% of U.S. capacity.

More consolidation is likely, Davis predicted, and is “something that the lower tiers of the industry need.” He said if Spirit plans to make an acquisition, jet blue airlines “I don’t think we would have been in the situation we are in now,” he said, although a judge did not prevent him from doing so two years ago.

Low-fare airlines swooped into the market, offering eye-catching fares that were once a headache for traditional large airlines.

“There was no better example of that than Spirit,” Davis said.

But then major airlines began copying some of the low-cost models, offering no-frills basic economy tickets and other extras. This has hurt carriers like Spirit, which was profitable in the 2010s but hasn’t been profitable since 2019.

“Everyone thought low-cost airlines were just taking huge market share,” he said. “Shoes back then were on the complete opposite footing from what they are now.”

He said another advantage big airlines have is their large credit card programs, where customers get money from banks when they swipe their credit cards, a business that gives airlines a bigger cash cushion to weather shocks such as rising fuel prices.

Davis said he spent Spirit’s final days trying to close a deal between its headquarters in Washington and Dania Beach, Florida. Some staff, including pilots, did not have final information about the airline’s final flight until nearing landing Friday night or early Saturday morning.

“We can’t announce in advance that we’re closing,” he said. “What happens is the vendors stop working. The fuelers stop refueling. Some of the crew members probably won’t come. And then the planes and the people and the passengers are scattered all over the country. It has to be done in a very orderly way, and it has to be done all at once.”

Davis said he will remain at Spirit to oversee the airline’s closure. The leased airplane is returned to the lessor. What you own will be sold. Gates are monitored by the airport and may also be used by other airlines. Approximately 130 other employees will remain in the business as well.

Asked if he would stay in the industry, Davis said, “I love airplanes and I love this industry, so I probably won’t leave, although it can be very difficult and taxing at times.”