A Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 airplane taxis at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from Fort Lauderdale on March 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. <\/p>\n
Kevin Carter | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Just hours after Spirit Airlines collapsed<\/a>, its rivals unveiled their new flight plans. <\/p>\n Airlines had actually been at work for months on their route changes as Spirit’s shutdown looked more and more likely. Some new flights start this week. It comes after Spirit abruptly ceased operations overnight Saturday, stranding<\/a> thousands of customers.<\/p>\n The quick move shows how carriers are vying for Spirit’s valuable assets, like airport gates and a customer base that has one less choice when booking. That could drive up airfare even more<\/a> than it already has risen after the fuel-driven hikes this year, analysts said.<\/p>\n Even though Spirit’s already pared-down summer schedule was about 1.5% of U.S. domestic capacity, it could have a broader impact on the industry and travelers’ wallets, Barclays airline analyst Brandon Oglenski said in a note Monday.<\/p>\n “Beyond direct revenue capture from Spirit’s prior network, we also suspect industry pricing could benefit significantly for nearly all airlines given the removal of excess point-to-point capacity, which will likely drive even higher unit revenue outcomes in the near term,” he said.<\/p>\n For now, other airlines are announcing their new flights as they look to fill the gaps from Spirit’s absence and compete for Spirit’s routes and gates.<\/p>\n Breeze Airways<\/a> is launching a flight out of Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Charleston, South Carolina. The carrier also plans to run year-round service from Atlantic City to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina and Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n JetBlue Airways<\/a>, previously the No. 2 airline at Spirit’s home hub of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, announced new flights from there to a host of destinations, including Barranquilla and Cali in Colombia; Baltimore; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Indianapolis. It also said it would add new nonstops from the South Florida hub to Chicago; Detroit; Houston; Nashville, Tennessee, and Ponce, Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n “We’re stepping up for Fort Lauderdale to ensure the availability of air service in this market,” JetBlue President Marty St. George said in a release announcing the changes.<\/p>\n JetBlue is also boosting capacity from Fort Lauderdale to Austin, Dallas\/Fort Worth International Airport; Raleigh-Durham; and Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros, in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n Waiting for the fall<\/p>\n A JetBlue Airways plane sits on the tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on January 31, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.<\/p>\n Joe Raedle | Getty Images<\/p>\n It’s not a new tack for the carriers. Late last summer, days after Spirit filed for its second bankruptcy protection<\/a> in less than a year, airlines also added service<\/a> to airports where Spirit had a large presence. At that time, Spirit was working on cutting flights<\/a> to reduce costs as it tried to emerge from bankruptcy, which it was aiming to do in mid-2026. <\/p>\n That didn’t happen, and talks<\/a> for a Trump administration loan of up to $500 million to keep the airline afloat fell apart late last week. <\/p>\n Spirit, the country’s famous budget carrier, collapsed after years of compounding problems \u2014 some within management’s control and some without \u2014 that were eventually were too heavy to overcome. <\/p>\n Read more about Spirit Airlines’ recent challenges<\/p>\n Along with rolling out new routes, other airlines \u2014 including United Airlines<\/a>,\u00a0Frontier Airlines<\/a>,\u00a0American Airlines<\/a>,\u00a0Southwest Airlines<\/a>, JetBlue <\/a>\u2014 swooped in over the weekend and capped fares for stranded travelers who had booked flights on Spirit. <\/p>\n Spirit said it was automatically processing refunds for customers.<\/p>\n United said about 14,000 Spirit customers booked tickets on United on Saturday. Southwest said it took in more than 20,000.<\/p>\n “If you fly with us during this time, I think you’ll love what comes with your ticket on the world’s largest airline,” United’s chief customer officer, David Kinzelman, said in note early Saturday. “We can take you across the country and around the world, with more flights across the Atlantic and Pacific than any airline. Plus, you’ll get friendly and reliable service from the best team in the industry.”<\/p>\n Now the industry is watching other budget airlines after Spirit’s collapse.<\/p>\n The surge in fuel prices since the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran in February has been particularly punishing for low-cost airlines, which don’t have the giant credit card and corporate travel customer bases that larger airlines enjoy.<\/p>\n Spirit’s one-time potential merger partner and fellow budget carrier Frontier <\/a>reports results on Tuesday and its executives will face questions about their own plans and prospects for the year.<\/p>\n