Share.

39 Comments

  1. >S**pirit has been seeking a lifeline from the U.S. government to the tune of $500 million**, though the Wall Street Journal reported earlier Friday that the airline is preparing to end operations after a deal could not be reached between certain bondholders and the government.

    >Sources later said **the administration had proposed $500 million in financing in exchange for warrants equivalent to 90% of Spirit’s equity.**

    What the actual fuck?

  2. Fucking finally. I’m glad we let the airline fail. This will show other airlines they can fail

  3. insanewriters on

    Rumors suggest negotiations stopped when Spirit attempted to charge the government for seats and water

  4. jizzlevania on

    Maybe because when the government bails out businesses like banks and the auto industry, American tax payers fund the “loans” then also fund the repayments. It’s always a net loss for the people forced into a heads we win, tails you lose situation. 

    Or maybe because Spirit wanted the same amount that a ballroom costs and no one was going to pick an airline that serves poor people over more gold lamé.

  5. NightInference- on

    End of an era. Say what you want about the “yellow bus of the sky,” but Spirit was the only reason I could afford to visit my family across the country for $60. With them gone, the Big Three (Delta, United, American) are going to have a field day hiking prices. We’re about to find out exactly how much “Spirit-style” competition was actually keeping our fares down.

  6. Cosmic-Space-Octopus on

    This is as much of a failure on the Trump admin as it is on the airline itself. Since the Reagan era and even more so by 2008 a lot of big businesses have been operating under the idea if they ran the business into the ground, they can always rely on a government bailout.

  7. First, is that Rump was part of the negotiations, which makes it a dead deal from the very start. If he cannot grift his way somehow to get at least 99% of the profits, (if any) you cannot trust him. The ceasing of operations of Spirit Airlines sounds and is terrible for customers and employees alike. If his actions since day one of his dictatorship are not enough to convince, then the only thing one can assume is you must be a magat and part of the 2025 Reich Heritage Foundation plan to destroy the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

  8. Future_Reference_401 on

    Aww but spirit airlines gate agents were some of my favorite content.

  9. Capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down? That’s not a good policy. When you do this, it becomes a norm and that’s not good for tax payers.

    Let Spirit file for bankruptcy and get an umbrella to shield them from creditors while they restructure their operations – Delta did it in 2005. Use bk to rework leases, rework their debt , sell their gates, sell some assets repackage union contracts, slash some labor costs, get rid of non-performing routes and focus on profitable areas. Then re-emerge and live to fight another day.

  10. TonyTheTerrible on

    Just remember too big to fail means it should be nationalized when this topic comes up again down the road

  11. Is there a space for public option for air transport? We have city buses

  12. kummer5peck on

    Yet another example what happens when you turn the White House into a studio location to film The Apprentice.

  13. Good! Glad to see taxpayers aren’t funding them. I’m so tired of bailouts.

  14. UnableToParallelPark on

    Good. Let businesses fail and quit bailing them out. The airline industry is a predatory industry anyways. Oh, an emergency happened and you can’t fly? Here’s a cancellation fee. Oh, we’re cancelling your flight? Here’s some flight credits, hopefully they’ll cover the cost of your next one 🤷.

    I flew Spirit. It’s affordable and we only stayed for a few days so we didn’t need checked luggage. It sucks for the *employees*, you know the people who do all of the work. Not the CEOs and top down who essentially ruined the company.

    It’s not like they’re going to liquidate everything and come back a few years later to repeat the cycle.

  15. phantom-firion on

    I’m not going to mourn it. Its business model was toxic and served as a blueprint for how other more middle class carriers could enshitify their services without revolt from their customers.

  16. syncopatedpixel on

    Gov’t should not have blocked their merger with JetBlue.

    Once that happened, they were on life support and weren’t going to make it. 

  17. Companies do not need bailouts. This is what bankruptcy is for. File and go through the process. What emerges is what emerges.

    The only reason companies want bail outs is that it props up shareholders who normally are the losers in bankruptcy.

    I’m fucking sick of subsidizing shareholders. You want to own a company? Cool. Own it. And own ALL the risk that comes with it.

  18. Might be a spicy take but maybe we should’ve allowed the proposed merger with JetBlue. 🤷‍♂️

  19. HeavenlyCreation on

    It’s their own fault. They rejected offers from Frontier for years.

    Guess they thought they were too big to fail….newsflash, it’s not the 90s

  20. Suuuumimasen on

    This is awful for every employee but the government shouldn’t bail out companies that run themselves out of business. BOD should have taken the frontier offer.

  21. No bailouts!!!. The ownership knew /saw the problem much earlier and didn’t act, choosing to fail big (as pres47 often did with his ventures). What should happen is every single passenger/customer should be given five shares of Spirit stock to benefit from the sale-off of assets. Employees should be given 100 shares. Anyone holding more than 500 shares gets nothing, because they chose for this to happen.

    The federal government should not “print more money” just to provide bailouts, which is what occurred after the 2007 housing bubble burst. Why deficits? because stockholder capitalism has eroded value of the dollar plus the owners (who “pay” the politicians via PAC contributions) get the overwhelming amount of dollars, not the producers or value-adding workers.

  22. “To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” the company said in a statement.

    How is this any different from when they were in business?

  23. rakedaymon on

    Sucks people are losing their jobs over this but I’m glad they didn’t get a Bailout.

    Shitty companies should fail.

  24. So the Trump Admin blocked the merger with them and JetBlue from happening and then tried to blackmail/extort them for 90% of the company..

    So tired of these mafia fucks. I respect Spirit for not bowing down.

  25. vilified-moderate on

    Investors: Help! Our creditors will gut us for 50% of our book value to get their money back!! Think of the economic impact on our workers and the economy!

    US Gov: ok then give us 90% and we will help you save the airline..

    Investors: so 90% paper loss and help people, or 50% loss now?

    Headline: Airline Shuts down,

  26. JacksonTheGrey on

    Explained why my flights were cancelled last week. Glad they actually refunded me.

  27. GreenAnder on

    1. Start unnecessary war with Iran
    2. Raise gas prices
    3. Bankrupt budget airline
    4. Offer bailout that is effectively a nationalized buyout
    5. Creditors say no
    6. Airline goes under
    7. ThE aRt oF tHe dEaL

  28. I_have_questions27 on

    Oh look another grift but this time on an airline.  How surprising.

Leave A Reply