Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights
4/29/202626 min
It’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to muse about “buying” them. Many low cost airlines are struggling due to a canny and calculated set of strategies from bigger airlines that we can think of as ‘revenge of the legacy carriers.’
Today on the show, we go back in time to when Spirit was riding high and pressuring the whole industry to cut costs. We talk with then-CEO Ben Baldanza about his radical vision for cheap air travel and then travel to the present day to hear how legacy airlines beat Spirit and other budget airlines at their own game. Plus, what happens to us passengers if Spirit does go away.
Newsletters:
Greg’s weekly deep dive
The brand new Indicator link roundup
Related Episodes:
People Express and how flying got so bad (or did it?)
Book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life is in stores now.
Support: Planet Money+
Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find us on Socials:
This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Greg Rosalsky, Jacob Goldstein, Zoe Chace and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Alex Goldmark. It was fact-checked by Vito Emanuel and engineered by Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
Support comes from our 2026 lead sponsor of Planet Money, Amazon Business. Unlock smart business buying with fast free delivery on millions of items, and practical AI innovations that automate repetitive tasks so you can make smarter decisions faster. Learn more at amazonbusiness.com.
Emma Peaslee· Host0:18
[static] This is Planet Money from NPR. [upbeat music] About a month ago, Aron Darling booked a ticket with Spirit Airlines for a work event in New York City, and if you've been following the news about Spirit, you know that Aron was not feeling great about that decision.
Aron Darling· Guest0:37
I just started checking the flight status every two hours. [laughs] And I did that for, like, 72 hours straight.
Emma Peaslee· Host0:43
Because after filing for bankruptcy for a second time, Spirit is having even more financial issues. Now it looked like it was about to go into liquidation and could maybe disappear forever.
Aron Darling· Guest0:55
And I would even call them and be like, "Hey, is there something..." 'Cause I got a little worried that whoever was, like, in charge of updating the flight status, maybe they were even, like, you know, let go.
Emma Peaslee· Host1:04
When the day of his flight finally came, his departure was sort of a running joke with the staff at the airport.
Aron Darling· Guest1:10
They were like, "Oh, you're flying with Spirit?" [laughs] And I was like... Kind of looked at them and I'm like, "Uh, I mean, I guess I'm one of the last."
Emma Peaslee· Host1:20
[upbeat music] Aron did make it to his destination, but Spirit's fate is a little more up in the air. Hello, and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Emma Peaslee.