Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines is a United States ultra-low-cost carrier headquartered in the Fort Lauderdale-Miami area of Florida, tracing its origins to a trucking-turned-airline company that entered scheduled air service in the early 1990s and adopted the Spirit name in 1992. The carrier pioneered an unbundled fare model in the American market, charging separately for items such as carry-on bags and seat selection while advertising very low base fares, a template widely copied by later ultra-low-cost entrants. Spirit's proposed 2022 merger with JetBlue Airways was blocked by a federal antitrust ruling in 2024, after which the carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, emerged from that process in 2025, and has continued restructuring its network and fleet amid continued financial pressure in the highly competitive US low-cost segment.