Spirit Airlines has stopped flying. Here's what happens next

The bright yellow planes are grounded. Now the selloff begins.

Spirit Airlines, which abruptly canceled all its future flights over the weekend, secured court approval Tuesday to begin dismantling the once-busy budget carrier and to convert its parts into cash for creditors.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane authorized the airline's plan for a rapid wind down of its remaining business activities, clearing the way for Spirit to move forward with liquidation.

“Today is a very challenging day. It’s not a day that anybody hoped would ever come,” Lane said as he ruled from the bench following an hourslong hearing in New York. The judge extended his “sympathy to the Spirit employees and their families.”

The company needed the judge’s green light to proceed because shutting down an airline is far from straightforward, with creditors, regulators, airport authorities and employees all tied into a process that has to be carefully unwound. More than 100 people tuned in to Tuesday’s hearing virtually, reflecting the broad interest in the case.

Spirit's plan centers on selling off every possible asset — from its airplanes, engines and spare parts to gates and landing slots at airports — while also limiting additional payroll, leasing and other costs.

The liquidation marks a dramatic turn for Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2025 hoping to escape financial ruin. The airline's parent company was attempting to restructure the business for the second time since November 2024 when it abruptly stopped operating flights early Saturday.

The shutdown itself was tightly choreographed. The company, Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc., said it made its going-out-of-business announcement in the middle of the night to ensure the jetliners making their final runs for the airline were safely on the ground and their crews accounted for.

Three days later, that sense of urgency carried into the courtroom, where the company's lawyers asked the judge for expedited approval of their wind-down plan, arguing that speed would benefit Spirit's creditors and customers.

“Any delay will cause chaos, confusion and cost the estate significant time and money,” the company said in a motion filed with the court, noting the airline was “not generating any revenue.”

Spirit attorney Marshall Huebner said Tuesday in court that rising jet fuel costs since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran “engulfed Spirit entirely.” The airline's fuel expenses grew by roughly $100 million “in March and April alone,” he said, and rapidly drained Spirit’s liquidity and derailed its restructuring efforts.

He also apologized directly to Spirit’s employees and customers, especially passengers who he said may now be completely “priced out” of certain routes without the ultra low-cost carrier known for its unbundled “no frills” service.

Huebner described a swift effort by other airlines and other segments of the aviation industry to assist Spirit's employees and customers once the airline's end looked inevitable.

“The entire industry sprang into action to get our people home,” Huebner said. Spirit employed about 17,000 people and carried about 50,000 passengers on its final day of operations. The final flight, which traveled from Detroit to Dallas, landed after midnight Saturday.

According to court filings, Spirit’s assets include its fleet of 114 Airbus A320-family planes. Most of them — 66 aircraft — were leased, but the company owns 28 that will be part of the liquidation process. Another 20 of the planes it owns outright were already set to be sold under a separate, previously approved court deal. Spirit also owns 18 spare engines.

Spirit says it plans to initially keep a skeleton crew of 130 to 150 employees who will help oversee the liquidation process, including securing aircraft and coordinating logistics. The team, expected to include some corporate officers, will eventually shrink to roughly 40.

In the last two weeks, Spirit was in discussions with the Trump administration about a hoped-for rescue deal that fell through, eliminating what the company described as its last viable path forward. Of the potential bailout, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday, “We oftentimes don’t have half a billion dollars laying around.”

Duffy said other U.S. airlines, including United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, were offering $200 one-way fares for a limited time to travelers holding Spirit confirmation numbers and proof of purchase.

Airlines also stepped in to assist stranded Spirit crew members, he said, with some offering a preferential hiring process for former Spirit employees looking for work.

A traveler walks past covered Spirit Airlines kiosks, Saturday, May 2, 2026, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of Pope Leo XIV, potentially complicating a fence-mending visit that Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to make this week to the Vatican.

In an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump said the first American-born pontiff is helping Iran and also making the world less safe with his comments about the importance of not treating immigrants with disrespect.

“The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in the interview on Monday. “And I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.”

The pope, however, has not said Iran should obtain nuclear weapons. He’s called for more peace talks, and criticized war with Iran generally and Trump’s specific threats of mass civilian strikes. The pope also has emphasized that he’s reflecting biblical and church teachings, not speaking as a political rival to Trump.

Leo responded to Trump's latest criticism by calling out the U.S. president's misrepresentation of his views. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the pope said the Catholic Church “for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there.”

He also doubled down on his insistence that his call for peace and dialogue in the U.S-Israeli war in Iran is biblically inspired.

“The mission of the church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth,” Leo said.

For his part, Rubio, a practicing Catholic, said Trump's recent criticisms were rooted in his opposition to Iran potentially obtaining a nuclear weapon, which he said could be used against millions of Catholics and other Christians. Rubio said the whole world should be opposed to that.

Trump “doesn’t understand why anybody — leave aside the pope — the president and I, for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio told reporters at the White House.

Still, Trump’s latest comments may make Rubio’s task more difficult when he sees the pontiff on Thursday. Rubio has often been called on to tone down or explain Trump’s harsh rhetoric as it relates to Europe, NATO and the Middle East, but the president’s dispute with the pope has domestic political implications in the U.S. with midterm congressional elections approaching.

Trump lashed out at Leo on social media last month, saying the pope was soft on crime and terrorism for comments about the administration’s immigration policies and deportations as well as the Iran war. Leo then said God doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who wage war.

Later, Trump posted a social media image likening himself to Jesus Christ, which he then deleted after backlash. He has refused to apologize to Leo and has sought to explain away the social media post by saying he thought the image was of him as a doctor.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a long-time Trump ally, has taken exception to Trump’s comments about the pope.

Trump in return criticized her as his ire against NATO allies expands over what he sees as a lack of support for the Iran war — most recently with the Pentagon planning to pull thousands of troops out of Germany in the coming months.

In response to Trump's latest comments criticizing the pope, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a social media post that they were “neither acceptable nor helpful to the cause of peace.”

“I reaffirm my support for every action and word of Pope Leo; his words are a testament to dialogue, the value of human life, and freedom. This is a vision shared by our government, which is committed through diplomacy to ensuring stability and peace in all areas where conflicts exist,” Tajani wrote.

Rubio, who after this trip will have visited Italy or the Vatican at least three times in the past year, is expected to meet with Meloni and Tajani on Friday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Pope Leo XIV talks to journalists as he leaves his residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, to return to the Vatican, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV waves after presiding over the ordination of four Auxiliary Bishops of Rome, in Rome's St. John Lateran Basilica, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

President Donald Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)