What Spirit Airlines’ rise and fall tells us about the future of cheap flights
April 29, 20263:13 PM ET
By
Greg Rosalsky Jacob Goldstein Zoe Chace Alex Goldmark Emma Peaslee
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 16: A Spirit Airlines plane taxis at Hollywood Burbank Airport on April 16, 2026 in Burbank, California. Facing mounting financial pressure, Spirit Airlines is at risk of liquidation within days as surging jet fuel costs tied to the Iran conflict strain its already fragile bankruptcy restructuring efforts.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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.
Related Episodes:
People Express and how flying got so bad (or did it?)