Topline
United And Frontier airlines have added a flurry of new routes as they capitalize on the plight of Spirit Airlines, which is on a desperate cost-cutting binge and just filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a year.
Last Friday, Spirit Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a year after spending months selling assets, furloughing pilots and slashing routes to reduce costs.
United Airlines announced Thursday it was adding routes to 15 cities, with Patrick Quayle, United senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, pointedly noting, “if Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we're adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them."
Also Thursday, ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines—which failed in several attempts to acquire Spirit in recent years—announced 22 new routes.
Spirit has not announced plans to cease operations, but warned investors last month it might not survive another year without additional cash infusions.
The beneficiaries of Spirit’s misfortune “depends on what happens with Spirit’s assets, including how much of Spirit’s capacity is backfilled and by which airlines,” Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James covering the airline sector, wrote in a note to investors this week.
On Wednesday, Spirit was notified that it will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after its stock plunged 94% since the beginning of 2025.
On Thursday, United announced it was expanding its winter schedule with new flights beginning in January to 15 cities, including service between Houston and Atlanta, Baltimore, Guatemala City, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, San Pedro Sula, Honduras and San Salvador; between Chicago and Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando; between Newark and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Columbia, South Carolina, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando; and between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Also on Thursday, Frontier Airlines announced it will launch 22 new routes across the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America beginning in November and December. The additions include new service from Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and other hubs in the U.S., and new international routes to destinations in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and more. Last week, Frontier announced 20 new routes for this winter, including new routes from Fort Lauderdale to Detroit, Houston, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as new service from Houston to New Orleans, Honduras and Guatemala.
Spirit Airlines has not been profitable since 2019. Last November, the ultra-low-cost carrier became the first major U.S. airline to file for Chapter 11 since American Airlines 13 years ago. The airline exited bankruptcy in March, only to seek Chapter 11 protection again last week. “Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” Spirit CEO Dave Davis said in a news release. Earlier in August, the no-frills budget carrier warned it may not survive beyond a year in its quarterly filing, weeks after announcing it would furlough hundreds of pilots.
In May and June of this year, Spirit drastically cut capacity by approximately 1 million seats—a decrease of roughly 24% compared to the same period last year. In October, Spirit will end service in 12 markets: Albuquerque, N.M.; Birmingham, Ala.; Boise, Idaho; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Columbia, S.C.; Macon, Ga.; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Diego, Calif. and San Jose, Calif.
Looking ahead to the fourth-quarter of 2025, Frontier overlaps with Spirit on 39% of its capacity, more than any other airline, followed by JetBlue Airways (35%), Southwest Airlines (28%), American Airlines (26%) and Delta Air Lines (25%), according to Syth’s note to investors. Some rivals may also purchase aircraft from the beleaguered budget carrier. “Notably, unless Spirit is acquired, there will be a period of time for aircraft to be transferred to other airlines,” Syth wrote.
Spirit Airlines Stock Craters On Warning It May Not Survive Another Year (Forbes)