With its collapse on May 2, Spirit Airlines leaves behind an airline industry that was transformed by its presence.
As the U.S. pioneer of the no-frills business model, the general public will likely remember Spirit as the unruly and often unfriendly airline portrayed and parodied by late-night talk show hosts.
At the same time, its loyal followers prized its budget fares to warm-weather vacation destinations -- and the scrappy airline was able to open up markets by making air travel more accessible to more customers.
"Without a doubt, the airline known for its yellow planes changed the U.S. air transportation landscape," former Spirit CEO Ted Christie wrote in an homage to Spirit on LinkedIn. "Millions of guests saved millions of dollars, and those that didn't fly on Spirit benefitted from the competition."
Spirit earned, and even cultivated, its reputation for polarizing customer service in the years following its 2007 transformation into the first U.S. ultralow-cost carrier.
The company was a little-known airline on the brink of failure before it promoted Ben Baldanza to CEO in 2006. Spirit hired Baldanza away from US Airways a year earlier to be the airline's president and COO.
Following a model successfully deployed in Europe, most notably by Ryanair, Baldanza unbundled fares at Spirit.
In 2007, Spirit was the first U.S. airline to implement a fee for checked bags. A charge for advance seat selection arrived in 2008. Eventually, Spirit would upcharge for everything from water to boarding passes printed at the airport.
Customers unfamiliar with the business model often complained. But Baldanza vigorously defended the upcharges as necessary for Spirit to hold down ticket costs and democratize flying.
"We try to give customers more choice; if you don't want to carry a lot of bags, why should you pay for baggage infrastructure?" he said in a 2015 Travel Weekly report. "We want to give you the real price with a la carte choices. When you go to a restaurant and pay for the dessert, you don't think it's a fee."
At times, Baldanza was brazen about Spirit's lack of customer service, even going so far as to make light of consumers' complaints in advertising campaigns. But the model worked. Spirit grew quickly, eventually becoming the seventh-largest U.S. airline.
Its growth spawned imitators, most notably Frontier, which made the transformation to ultralow-cost carrier under the guidance of former Spirit chairman and airline investor Bill Franke, whose Indigo Partners became Frontier's controlling shareholder in 2013.
More significantly, the U.S. legacy airlines borrowed from the model. Many began introducing checked-bag fees in 2008.
In 2012, Delta became the first major U.S. airline to offer a basic-economy fare, seeking to compete more effectively for bargain flyers. By 2017, basic economy had become an option across the U.S. airline industry, with the major carriers deploying them most aggressively on routes competing with Spirit and Frontier.
"It really did change the industry," said Brad Beakley, CEO of travel industry consultancy Hospitio, who worked alongside Baldanza at US Airways. "Ben explained it very well: Pay for what you use. And now all airlines do it, maybe to a fault."
In its home base of Fort Lauderdale, Spirit was also a different kind of catalyst, said South Florida-based aviation journalist Chris Sloan. In the years prior to the pandemic, Spirit spurred growth at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport, helping it develop a reputation as a lower-cost alternative to Miami.
The airline also developed an extensive Latin America and Caribbean route network from Fort Lauderdale, catering not only to vacationers but to friends-and-family travelers. In 2023, Spirit served 29 cities in those regions.
Sloan said Spirit was also a good corporate citizen. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Sloan organized a relief effort in partnership with Spirit to bring supplies to the island.
"They never stopped. And they never asked for any publicity. But they said it brought the company together like never before," he said.
While never losing sight of its discounting roots, Spirit began focusing more on its operational performance and service culture in 2016 after Baldanza was removed and replaced by former AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro.
The airline thrived financially until the pandemic but never regained its footing afterward. A post-pandemic pilot shortage led to industrywide increases in pilot pay, disproportionately hurting discount carriers, whose business models depend upon keeping costs low. Also, customer preferences shifted toward premium options; Spirit also grew faster than discount demand called for.
Major airlines, with United leading the way, outdid Spirit at its own game through strategic deployment of basic-economy inventory. Growth of high-margin loyalty program revenue helped the majors in those efforts, effectively subsidizing their basic economy fares.
"Unfortunately for Spirit, the major carriers could build a better mousetrap," Sloan said.
Spirit Airlines timeline
1992: Spirit completes its first commercial flight.
2006: Ben Baldanza appointed CEO.
2007: Spirit changes business model to become the original U.S. ultralow-cost carrier, selling unbundled but inexpensive fares. Spirit implements the first U.S. checked-bag fees.
2008: Spirit begins charging for seat assignments. Other U.S. airlines introduce checked-bag fees.
2012: In order to better compete with Spirit, Delta becomes the first U.S. legacy carrier to introduce basic-economy fares. Other traditional carriers later followed.
2016: Baldanza replaced as CEO. New chief Bob Fornaro places more emphasis on customer service and operational performance.
2019: Spirit records net income of $335 million, its final profitable year.
2024: Spirit flies 298,000 flights, its most in a calendar year, but suffers net losses of $1.23 billion. It files for bankruptcy protection in November.
2025: Spirit emerges from bankruptcy in March, but losses mount. Re-enters bankruptcy in August.
2026: Spirit ceases operations on May 2.