On Saturday, Spirit Airlines, a financially troubled airline, ceased business. Simultaneously with that cessation, critics of the Trump Administration blamed the Iran conflict, while the administration blamed the airline’s failure on the Biden Administration.
Unfortunately, like many other issues, the airline’s failure was politicized. Blaming political opponents frequently obscures reality and merely divides America rather than fostering an understanding of what truly went wrong.
To fully comprehend the situation, one must look at the long, troubled history of Spirit Airlines.
The airline was originally a trucking company that began shipping cargo via air. In 1983, it became a charter airline that flew tour groups to entertainment destinations.
In 1992, it adopted the Spirit Airlines name and upgraded its fleet. In 2007, it expanded significantly as a low-cost airline attempting to emulate the success of Southwest Airlines.
The airline was plagued with numerous operational issues and a year later it laid off a significant portion of its workforce. Its pilots were the lowest paid in the industry and in 2009 the pilots went on strike.
After settling that strike, the airline also successfully negotiated with other unions and operated successfully for the next decade as one of the largest low-cost air carriers.
Like most airlines, Spirit suffered financially from the pandemic. A passenger died of COVID, causing potential customers to consider alternative airlines.
Furthermore, several jets suffered engine problems and had to be grounded, which significantly reduced the airline’s capacity to carry passengers.
Even after Spirit received a government bailout, it hemorrhaged red ink.
In early 2022, Frontier Airlines attempted to acquire Spirit, but Sprit’s shareholders rejected the deal. A few months later, JetBlue sought to acquire Spirit in a transaction offering greater incentives to Spirit’s shareholders. After both airlines’ shareholders approved the transaction, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with attorneys general from several states, filed suit to block the merger due to anti-trust concerns.
The DOJ during the Biden Administration was concerned (some say preoccupied) with increased merger and acquisition activity, which it believed would reduce competition in many industries. It filed 29 lawsuits to block mergers.
It is estimated that its strong anti-trust actions may have resulted in the abandonment of approximately 70 merger transactions.
JetBlue and Spirit did not choose to abandon their transaction; they went to court. The case was heard in early 2024 and was presided over by a Ronald Reagan appointee, William G. Young, a U.S. District Court judge.
The government argued that Spirit employed a business model that forced other airlines to lower fares and that JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit would result in higher fares. It turns out that JetBlue’s integration plan was to eliminate seats in Spirit’s aircraft with the intention of raising ticket prices for the combined airline.
The airlines’ defense was that they needed to combine and implement JetBlue’s integration plan in order to survive.
They argued that, individually, each airline lacked sufficient capacity to compete with the big four airlines, which carried 80% of passenger traffic. A combined carrier would increase competition.
Judge Young ruled in the government’s favor.
JetBlue and Spirit initially planned an appeal but abandoned it, calling off their merger in March 2024.
Because Spirit continued to experience operational challenges, its viability became increasingly uncertain. In August 2024, Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, while continuing operations during bankruptcy. In January 2025, Frontier Airlines made another offer to acquire Spirit, but the offer was rejected by Spirit’s shareholders.
In March 2025, Spirit emerged from bankruptcy as a leaner airline.
In August 2025, Spirit ran out of cash and filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time. It adopted a risky plan to shrink into a much smaller airline that would be profitable by 2027.
In April 2026, the increased fuel prices resulting from the Iran conflict made it clear that Spirit’s restructuring plan would not succeed and it ceased operations on May 2.
Critics of the Trump Administration claim that Spirit’s demise was the result of the Iran conflict and blamed President Trump for the demise.
Conversely, Trump supporters claim that Spirit failed because the Biden Administration prevented Spirit from merging with JetBlue.
While the Iran war was the proximate cause of Spirit’s demise, Spirit was chronically unprofitable and would likely have failed anyway.
In fairness to the Biden Administration, it did not act unilaterally to prevent the JetBlue merger — rather it was derailed by a court action.
Politicizing Spirit’s demise accomplishes nothing except partisan enragement at a time when we need clarity to optimally solve our problems.
Jim de Bree is a Valencia resident.
