Low-cost US carrier Spirit Airlines has announced the cancellation of all flights and the start of an “orderly wind-down of operations” after a proposed $500 million White House bailout fell through. The airline urged passengers not to go to the airport.

“Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc. … today regretfully announced that the Company has started an orderly wind-down of operations, effective immediately. All Spirit flights have been cancelled,” the company said in a statement early Saturday.

According to Cirium data, Spirit had 4,119 domestic flights scheduled between May 1 and May 15, offering 809,638 seats. The collapse, attributed to a doubling of jet fuel prices during the two-month-old Iran war, will cost thousands of jobs.

US President Donald Trump allegedly proposed $500 million to save Spirit despite opposition from his closest advisers and many Republicans in Congress. On Friday, Trump told reporters: “If we can help them, we will, but we have to come first.”

Spirit had reached a deal with lenders to emerge from its second bankruptcy by late spring, but plans derailed after the US war on Iran triggered a spike in jet fuel prices. A Spirit board meeting ended without a rescue agreement, a source told Reuters.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Reuters he tried to get other airlines to buy Spirit but found no takers. “What would someone buy? If no one else wants to buy them, why would we buy them?” Duffy asked.

The collapse of Spirit, which once accounted for 5% of US flights, highlights how the Iran war’s fuel-price shock has exposed weaker airlines. Globally, carriers are raising prices and cutting flights. Lufthansa cancelled 20,000 flights, and Air India cut 100 daily flights.

Source: www.aljazeera.com