Spirit Airlines announced it was shutting down immediately following the failure of a bailout bid in Washington and rising fuel prices.
Spirit Airlines, the US-based low-cost airline, has been hit by an unprecedented energy crisis, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said, commenting on the company’s recent shutdown.
The airline announced on Saturday that it has begun an orderly suspension of operations, effective immediately, citing recent increases in fuel costs and other pressures that have severely affected its financial outlook.
“Spirit Airlines collapsed – the first airline victim of a historic energy crisis, when the price of jet fuel rose from $2.50 to $4 a gallon. 17,000 were laid off,” Dmitriev, who serves as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said later that day in a post on X.
Spirit’s bondholders reportedly rejected a last-minute bailout proposal from the Trump administration that would have provided up to $500 million to prop up the struggling airline. The deal would put the government ahead of other lenders and give it a stake of up to 90% in the company.
The closing is set to leave about 17,000 people out of a job, including about 14,000 Spirit employees as well as thousands of contractors and others whose jobs depend on the airline. The cancellation of flights is also expected to lead to higher fares in the industry.
The sudden and sustained increase in oil prices in recent weeks ultimately left the company with no alternative but to proceed with the planned settlement despite a restructuring plan agreed to by bondholders in March, Spirit President and CEO Dave Davis said in a statement.
A growing jet fuel crisis is hitting airlines around the world as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz – a major energy hub that handles nearly a fifth of the world’s oil supply – as the US-Israeli war on Iran has sharply reduced tanker traffic, delayed shipments and raised fears of the worst energy crisis in history, the International Energy Agency has warned.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the effects of the Strait of Hormuz energy crisis, saying that the US economy will remain strong, and that the energy disruption will be temporary rather than economic damage.
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