Spirit was famous for offering bargain basement fares with nothing included.
Spirit Airlines emerged from bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, some four months after filing. The Florida-based discount airline lost $1.2 billion last year, and filed for bankruptcy protection with a debtor-approved plan already in place.
“We’re pleased to complete our streamlined restructuring and emerge in a stronger financial position to continue our transformation and investments in the guest experience,” said CEO Ted Christie, who will continue to lead the airline. “Throughout this process, we’ve continued to make meaningful progress enhancing our product offerings, while also focusing on returning to profitability and positioning our airline for long-term success. Today, we’re moving forward with our strategy to redefine low-fare travel with our new, high-value travel options.”
The airline had already begun the process of bundling fares last summer, creating four bundles: Go, Go Savvy, Go Comfy, and Go Big, offering a variety of inclusions ranging from checked bags, seat assignments, blocked middle seats, or first class-style “Big Front Seats.”
This is in contrast to the business model the airline employed throughout much of the past decade. Spirit was famous for offering bargain basement fares with nothing included, adding on fees for everything from carry-on bags to printing a boarding pass at the airport. The Big Front seat was available as a separate fee, but didn’t come with any extra perks like bags, snacks, drinks, or priority boarding or security—those still had fees attached. Now, with the Go Big fare bundled, the fare type really amounts to a discounted first class. Go Comfy is a lighter version, with an empty middle seat.
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The bundled fare products look similar to the four fare-type matrices used by the legacy airlines to sell their own products. Delta, for example, offers Basic, Main, Comfort Plus, and First on their own flights. That stratification of fare products was implemented by the country’s largest airlines in order to compete with the “unbundled” lower fares offered by Spirit. Now that those airlines are back to profitability, it appears Spirit’s role in the industry has evolved from that of a disruptor to that of an imitator.
While the legacy carriers, including American, Delta, and United rebounded following the pandemic on a boost in demand for premium products like extra legroom seats and first-class cabins, low-cost, and ultra-low-cost carriers like Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, and Spirit have struggled to adapt their business models. Spirit announced a merger with Frontier in 2022, only for JetBlue to swoop in with a better offer by July.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued to block the combination, saying it would violate antitrust laws, and a federal court judge agreed, blocking the merger in early 2024. Spirit filed for bankruptcy in November and declined a second takeover attempt from Frontier in February, saying they would prefer to stick with their ongoing plans to emerge from bankruptcy as a premium airline.
The company didn’t provide any further details on what changes to its product were anticipated in the coming months as it seems to attract more affluent travelers willing to spend more on its flights.
In the January 2025 Air Travel Consumer Report, which includes data from November 2024, Spirit Airlines ranked fourth in on-time performance, operating just over 85% of its flights on time. The company also ranked fourth in fewest flights canceled for the month.
Spirit is the nation’s sixth largest airline in terms of passengers carried, boarding 44.1 million travelers in 2024, behind Alaska Airlines and ahead of JetBlue. The airline operates flights in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean, and describes itself as a “low-fare carrier” offering “elevated travel options with exceptional value”.
