Spirit may shut down after 'final' bailout offer from Trump admin
May 1 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Friday said that his administration had made a "final" bailout offer to Spirit Airlines as reports suggest it is on the verge of shutting down.
Although Trump said his administration is still discussing a $500 million bailout for the beleaguered airline, its investors have not agreed to the government's proposal and Spirit could shut down as soon as Saturday, The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported.
Trump has for the past two weeks said the government would try to get involved to save the airline and its 7,500 employees, unveiling last weekend a plan to loan Spirit $500 million under the Defense Production Act and become its main debtor.
The price of jet fuel has doubled since Feb. 28 because of the war in Iran, raising costs for all airlines globally, but Spirit has been working to emerge from bankruptcy for the second time in a year and its financial plan has been completely upended.
"We're looking at it," Trump told reporters on Friday, hours after reports of the airline's demise started to spread.
"If we could do it, we'd do it, but only if it's a good deal," he said. "No institution has been able to do it. I said I'd like to save the jobs but we'll have an announcement sometime today ... We gave them a final proposal."
Spirit told a bankruptcy court on April 23 that its cash was "not going to last for very much longer" and that, without some sort of bailout, it would likely have to cease operations within a matter of days.
The Trump administration's bailout plan -- of which some Republicans and members of Trump's administration have been critical -- would give Spirit the loan it needs in exchange for the government becoming its largest debtor and potentially owning 90% of the airline.
The Fort Lauderdale-based airline told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that it is "operating as usual," and travelers at its main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International said that their flights had not been canceled.
Officials at Miami-International Airport also told the Sentinel that they had not been notified by Spirit that it was shutting down.
Spirit is said to have revolutionized air travel as one of the first of several value airlines that has managed to offer flights at rock-bottom flights, but it also has struggled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company flew less than half the number of flights in April than it had two years ago -- it dropped roughly 25,000 to 12,000 -- and has not turned an annual profit since 2019, The New York Times reported.
Having renegotiated contracts with its employees, shook off engine defects that doomed parts of its fleet and charted a path forward, Spirit was expected to emerge from bankruptcy in better shape sometime this summer.
After the war in Iran launched, affecting oil and gas prices worldwide, the cost of jet fuel doubled and tanked the company's financial plan.
In the event that Spirit does shut down, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways all have said they are preparing to assist the airline's customers and employees, which includes helping customers to travel in places where they operate routes similar to Spirit, CNBC reported.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 1:26 PM.