Spirit Airways will exit 5 cities in January, the newest cuts from the bankrupt provider.
The Dania Seaside, Florida-based discounter will finish service to Milwaukee Mitchell Worldwide Airport (MKE), Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX), Frederick Douglass Better Rochester Worldwide Airport (ROC) in New York and St. Louis Lambert Worldwide Airport (STL) on Jan. 8, 2026, a Spirit spokesperson confirmed to TPG.
Spirit may even finish seasonal service to Palonegro Worldwide Airport (BGA) close to Bucaramanga, Colombia, on Jan. 18, 2026.
Mixed, Spirit will finish 9 routes serving the 5 airports and cut back its schedule by roughly 1% of seats, knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium exhibits.
Spirit CEO Dave Davis instructed workers on Tuesday in a memo seen by TPG that the cuts have been to “higher align with our smaller fleet and concentrate on our strongest performing markets.”
With this batch of cities, Spirit has now reduce flights to 18 locations since submitting for its second Chapter 11 chapter in lower than a 12 months in August. The cuts vary from smaller locales like Chattanooga, Tennessee, to bigger cities like Minneapolis. It has additionally sought courtroom approval to return greater than half of its fleet of Airbus A320-family planes to leasing corporations.
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In October, Spirit warned traders that further schedule cuts have been coming in 2026, equal to a roughly 20% discount from this 12 months.
The airline has stated it is going to focus flying on a number of core markets — together with Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport (FLL) and Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO) — and, as a part of its restructuring, plans to shift its no-frills model upmarket to cater to a “value-seeking viewers.” On the similar time, it’s in talks with doable merger companions.
Spirit was blocked from merging with JetBlue Airways in 2024, and rejected a proposal from Frontier Airways earlier this 12 months.
JetBlue, in response to Spirit’s struggles, is rising at FLL. The airline is including new routes and flights from the airport in what Marty St. George, president of JetBlue, has known as a “fairly massive guess” available on the market.
Beneath are particulars of the 9 routes Spirit will finish in January, Cirium schedule knowledge exhibits:
- BGA-FLL (no different air service)
- MKE-DTW (served by Delta Air Strains)
- MKE-Harry Reid Worldwide Airport (LAS) (served by Southwest Airways and Solar Nation Airways)
- MKE-MCO (served by Frontier, Southwest and Solar Nation)
- PHX-DTW (served by American Airways, Delta, Frontier and Southwest)
- PHX-FLL (served by American, JetBlue and Southwest)
- ROC-MCO (served by Southwest)
- ROC-FLL (no different air service)
- STL-FLL (served by Southwest)
