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The White House is reportedly considering a plan to take over Spirit Airlines and use part of the bankrupt carrier’s fleet for military missions. Under the proposal, President Trump would invoke the Defense Production Act to loan Spirit Airlines money for national defense purposes, CBS News reported on Friday. The Pentagon would then use the budget airline’s “excess capacity for transporting troops, military cargo or other missions,” the outlet said, citing sources. Spirit’s creditors would need to sign off on the strategy. The company, known for its bright-yellow planes and low-cost fares, has declared bankruptcy twice in the past two...

The Trump administration is in advanced discussions with budget carrier Spirit Airlines about a bailout, sources familiar with the negotiations told CBS News. The financing package could include a loan of up to $500 million, in exchange for warrants that would allow the federal government to take a potentially substantial ownership stake in the beleaguered airline, the sources said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is one of the chief proponents pushing the Trump administration to take an ownership stake in the carrier, multiple sources told CBS News. The deal is not done and is subject to change, but could be finalized...

The Trump administration is in advanced talks for a financing package for Spirit Airlines as the carrier is facing the risk of a liquidation, according to a person familiar with the matter. The iconic discounter Spirit has been challenged for years by rising costs, changing consumer tastes, an engine recall and a court-blocked plan to be acquired by JetBlue Airways two years ago. “Spirit Airlines would be on a much firmer financial footing had the Biden administration not recklessly blocked the airline’s merger with JetBlue,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to CNBC. “The Trump administration continues...

Spirit Airlines could dissolve as soon as today and leave passengers who have already booked tickets stranded at airports around the country. The carrier filed for bankruptcy twice between November 2024 and August 2025, and it currently remains under Chapter 11 protection. Spirit was able to survive based on the assumption that jet fuel prices would remain stable and that it would be able to maintain its passenger capacity at 80 percent, hoping to exit restructuring in early summer. But since the war with Iran, jet fuel prices have nearly doubled in large cities such as New York, Houston, Chicago...

Donald Trump's Air Force One flight to London got dangerously close to another plane while travelling in the skies of New York, it has been reported. The US President's Air Force One and Spirit Flight 1300, an Airbus A321 flying from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, were approaching Long Island when an air traffic controller observed their altitudes were close. He also noticed that their flight paths were converging and attempted to warn the pilots of the Spirit flight to adjust their course. The encounter was first posted first by the @JonNYC account on the Bluesky media app. The unverified audio...

‘Pay attention!’, Spirit Airline pilots are told. The crew of a passenger jet was reprimanded for taking a flight course too close to Air Force One and for taking too long to adjust direction. The incident occurred over Long Island, and President Donald J. Trump was aboard AF1. New York Post reported: “Pilots flying Spirit Airlines Flight 1300, traveling from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, were scolded by an air traffic controller Tuesday after they tried warning them, they were rapidly closing in on the president’s plane altitude and flight path as it was en route to the United Kingdom. […]...

The shocking moment a mass brawl involving men, women and children erupted at Atlanta Airport has been caught on camera. Viral video shows a dozen people throwing hands during chaotic scenes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the Georgia capital on Wednesday. The passengers can be seen punching and kicking each other close to what appeared to be the Spirit Airlines departure gates at one of the airport terminals. Several people stood on the chairs to launch an attack from above, while others grappled on the ground below. It's unclear what caused the fight or how it was resolved. Atlanta Police...

As if air travel wasn't crazy enough these days, passengers got into a massive brawl at the Atlanta airport ... and it's all on video. Viral footage shows dozens of air travelers fighting in the Spirit Airlines terminal ... punching and kicking their foes in the middle of the waiting area near a boarding gate. Fists are flying and parents are trying like heck to get their kids away from the carnage ... and the brawlers are ignoring pleas to stop the mayhem. We've seen a few fights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ... but this is by far the...

"...Spirit Airlines is apologizing after workers who were working under a vendor contract were caught on camera taking things out of a passenger's bag and throwing away the contents of that bag..."

While the word "bankruptcy" brings to mind images of shuttered gates and liquidation (and that is indeed what happened to a number of low-cost airlines this year), filing for Chapter 11 protection is actually a way to keep the company going and reorganize finances amid rising debt. For example, Scandinavian Airlines, the Copenhagen-based airline commonly known as SAS, filed for bankruptcy in February 2022 amid a drop in traveler numbers during the pandemic. However, it was able to officially emerge from it after ownership was redivided ownership between several local investment firms, the Danish government, and Air France-KLM AFRAF. Major...

A Spirit Airlines plane was raked with gunfire and hit multiple times as it was trying to land in Haiti Monday — leaving at least one flight attendant wounded. The ordeal unfolded at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, the Miami Herald reported, citing sources. The flight attendant was grazed by a bullet when the gunfire erupted. Multiple bullet holes could be seen in the overhead bins and a plane door in the aftermath, footage obtained by local outlet Media Libre Haiti showed. The plane, which was en route from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had to be diverted to an...

Two southern California women say they were removed from a Spirit Airlines flight last week for wearing crop tops. A flight attendant instructed the friends to disembark their New Orleans-bound flight before the plane could depart from Los Angeles international airport, they told a local news station. The friends, Tara Kehidi and Teresa Araujo, were wearing sweaters when they boarded the plane, but removed them because the air conditioning was not functioning. “We were wearing crop tops ... just like a little bit of stomach showing,” Kehidi told the ABC news affiliate KABC. When a male flight attendant told her...

Once again, the Biden Administration made a brilliant move. By disapproving the JetBlue/Spirit Airlines merger, consumers will suffer and jobs will be lost.Spirit met with creditors today to discuss the terms of a bankruptcy. If they go bankrupt (a virtual certainty now), the jobs at Spirit will be lost. Also, there will be less competition with one less airline out there; hence, airline ticket prices will go up.A merger was the only way Spirit could have survived. Thank you Biden Administration.

A Spirit Airlines passenger managed to track down her stolen luggage after it vanished when she arrived at a Florida airport — using one of the stolen items to aid in her desperate search. Paola Garcia had been waiting for her small pink hardshell luggage, containing several Apple products like her personal MacBook and two Apple Watches, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s carousel after returning home to the Sunshine State, Local 10 reported. The exact timing of the incident remains unclear, but Garcia’s desperation to find her stolen property led her to the apparent culprit’s house even before local...

Spirit Airlines Inc. is losing its chief financial officer to another troubled company — Hertz Global Holdings Inc. — as the carrier works to restructure a crushing debt load and the car rental company reboots after a failed bet on electric vehicles. Hertz is rebuilding after acquiring a fleet of mostly Tesla EV models that renters didn’t want and that cost more to repair than the company anticipated. Hertz also has been hurt by plummeting values for the EVs it bought after Tesla cut prices, resulting in higher-than-expected first-quarter losses of $392 million.

UPDATE 9:41 AM PT -- The Maryland Transportation Authority tells TMZ ... officers responded to the incident late Tuesday afternoon upon receiving reports of the fight. Officers identified five involved individuals, one of whom suffered minor injuries. Meanwhile, a rep for Spirit tells us four employees of a third-party service they use have been suspended by that company pending an investigation into the brawl. Spirit says they do not directly employ the individuals. The airline adds violence of any kind is not tolerated, and they plan to take appropriate action following the completed investigation. A Spirit Airlines check-in counter spiraled...

"We are aware of an altercation that occurred in Baltimore (BWI) on May 28," Spirit Airlines said in a statement. "Our vendor has suspended four of their employees involved pending an investigation into the matter. We do not tolerate violence of any kind, and we will take appropriate action as necessary following the completion of the vendor's investigation."

A woman was treated to an asphalt sandwich by an Atlanta police officer after prancing onto the tarmac and then trying to outrun the frustrated cop. Excessive force? Perhaps. But trespassing on an airport ramp is a serious offense. Cop Takes Down Runaway Woman As She Sprints Past Spirit Airlines Plane At Atlanta Airport We don’t know quite why or how the woman got onto the ramp, but we can observe several things based on a pair of videos captured by ground staff: * She’s talking to cops, then decides to skip away before breaking into a run * She...

Keyonne says he left his carry-on bag at the Spirit gate counter on February 19. He was headed back to Los Angeles from his uncle's funeral in New Orleans, that's when he got in a disagreement with the agent over doing a gate check of his large suitcase. “She said that I'd have to reschedule my flight instead of doing a gate check, and I knew that was not true because of my travels with my nonprofit.” He asked for a manager and paid an extra fee to take it on the plane, but he forgot his small carry on...

Destiny James, left, and Adreonna Adair, right, are in trouble. The two woman are accused of beating up a Spirit Airlines employee in the baggage claim area of Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and then resisting arrest. The incident occurred at Las Vegas Airport on Thursday at 4:30pm. According to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police report, Adair and James attacked a Spirit Airlines worker in the baggage claim area. It is not clear what prompted the incident, how long it went on, or how whether the Spirit employee was hurt. Police were called to the scene and...