R.I.P. Spirit Airlines
5/4/202619 min
Spirit Airlines ceased operations on Saturday after a possible government bailout plan fell apart. WSJ’s Alison Sider reports on the company’s challenging last few years and what the end of Spirit means for travelers. Jessica Mendoza hosts.
Further Listening:
- Why Air Travel Costs Will Continue to Rise
- How Spirit Airlines Landed in Bankruptcy
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
[music] Allison, is Spirit Airlines dead?
Alison Sider· Guest0:09
Yes, Spirit Airlines is dead. It has been a long multi-year saga, but it has shut down. All flights are canceled. There is no more Spirit Airlines.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:22
Our colleague, Allison Sider, covers the airline industry. [clapping] So what was the time of death?
Alison Sider· Guest0:29
Its last flight was flight 1833 from Detroit to Dallas. I think it landed a little bit after midnight Central Time on Saturday.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:37
That's like the last thing I'm kind of seeing on here. Uh, so you might be the last one. Yeah, I guess this is probably the last regular flight we'll do tonight. Well, uh, it was a pleasure working with you guys, and I wish you the best.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:51
And Allison, what was the cause of death?
Alison Sider· Guest0:53
Oh my God, I don't even know where to start. [laughs] Um, like, you could pinpoint the cause of death at so many different points. I mean, the immediate cause of death was, you know, the rapid sustained rise in fuel prices due to the Iran war, but that's like if someone has a heart attack, but they had, like, years of [laughs] damage, coronary damage, you know, that was just, like, waiting for that one moment. It was fuel prices in the end, but it was a really long, drawn-out, slow demise up until that point.