Spirit Airlines’ closure is reshaping the U.S. airline industry as competitors gain routes, customers and pricing power.
Spirit Airlines closure will restructure U.S. airlines and fares
Spirit Airlines’ exit will reshape the U.S. airline industry as JetBlue and Frontier expand routes and raise fares across the country.
america today
- JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines are aggressively adding seats, but Spirit Airlines is only replacing about one-fifth of its summer seats.
- The disappearance of ultra-low-cost airlines is expected to increase average airfares for consumers.
- At some smaller airports, routes previously served only by Spirit have ceased altogether.
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Now that Spirit Airlines is gone, other companies are already rushing to pick up some of the passengers.
When the pioneering ultra-low-cost airline abruptly shut down on May 2, the foundation was laid for a realignment of the U.S. airline industry.
Most other U.S. airlines have not only stepped in to help the Spirit’s stranded passengers. The closure also created an opportunity for airlines to acquire new routes and customers on a more permanent basis, and ultimately increase fares (more on this later).
“I don’t know if there was enough time to fully assess how Spirit’s failure would affect the rest of the airline industry, but this definitely suggests increased industry concentration,” said Brett House, an economics professor at Columbia Business School.
While it’s still too early to say exactly what post-Spirit flight in the U.S. will look like in the long term, some trends are already emerging as to which companies are likely to benefit most. Here’s how the industry consolidation is shaping up so far.
Two airlines growing stronger
Shortly after Spirit’s closure, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines took aggressive moves to fill the yellow gap that suddenly appeared in the sky. (Maybe there’s a color theory joke here about blue, green, and yellow all shuffling together, but I digress.)
JetBlue and Frontier had sought to merge with Spirit (separately) in recent years, but Spirit shareholders rejected Frontier’s proposal in favor of JetBlue’s more favorable one, and it was subsequently blocked by the Biden administration.
In the past few weeks, both airlines have tried to make up for some of Spirit’s lost capacity.
JetBlue was able to seriously strengthen its position in Fort Lauderdale, adding nine routes previously served by Spirit at the airport and increasing its capacity share at the hub, where it competed most directly with Spirit, from 22% to 37%, according to aviation analysis firm OAG.
“Over the past year, we’ve increased our daily departures from Fort Lauderdale by more than 75%, and we’re not stopping there. At key moments, we’re stepping up for the communities that have been part of our history since day one and adding services our customers need,” Daniel Schultz, JetBlue’s senior vice president of revenue, network and corporate planning, said in an email. “Our growth in Fort Lauderdale is intentional and built for the long term. We see great opportunity for FLL going forward, and we will continue to invest where JetBlue can make the biggest difference.”
Nevertheless, Fort Lauderdale still experienced a decline in overall production capacity after Spirit’s exit. According to OAG, Spirit and JetBlue combined to send about 638,000 seats out of the airport in April, and JetBlue’s service will approach 426,000 seats by September.
Frontier is also making big moves to grab market share from the former Spirit, according to Cirium, another aviation data analytics company. Cirium said Frontier added 425,000 seats on its former Spirit routes over the summer.
“We have been opportunistically deploying our capabilities in the wake of Spirit’s closure, which has created an opportunity to grow our presence in many markets and introduce more customers to Frontier,” Josh Friar, Frontier’s vice president of network and operational design, told me in an email. “We currently fly on more than 100 routes previously served by Spirit, and are positioned to be the new value airline of choice.”
Still, a big yellow hole remains in this country’s sky.
Spirit’s closure removed 5 million seats from the airline’s network this summer, and competitors only backfilled about 1 million of those seats, according to Cirium.
Higher price for travelers
For consumers, the most frustrating aspect of Spirit’s closure will likely be higher airfares overall. Even if you’ve never flown on a low-cost airline, Spirit’s mere presence has forced other airlines to sell cheaper tickets.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be negative for consumers,” House said. “Spirit’s exit will make the U.S. airline industry more concentrated and less competitive. … That means, on average, fares will be higher than they would otherwise be.”
However, it remains to be seen whether and to what extent these high prices will drive travelers out of the market. Part of Spirit’s struggles in recent years have been that travelers have become more willing to spend more on travel and pay for more premium aviation experiences. That left the ultra-low-cost carrier struggling to attract passengers with a model focused on bare-bones experiences and lowest prices at a time when travelers were looking for something different.
I’ll be interested to see if sales of other airlines’ basic economy tickets increase as former Spirit customers disperse to other airlines. Still, Frontier and other smaller, ultra-low-cost carriers like Breeze, Avero and Allegiant remain and may be poised for further growth.
“Continued availability of low-fare service across the United States is essential to ensuring consumers have access to affordable flights,” Frontier’s Fryer said. “Beyond the value-driven aviation options offered by low-fare airlines, their presence in the market fosters competition among airlines and reduces the overall cost of aviation for consumers.”
According to AAA, all of this is not only because more Americans are planning to travel this year, but also because oil prices are soaring. As a result of these price hikes and Spirit’s losses, the average domestic airfare this summer is $510, according to data from airline ticket trading website Going. For comparison, the average price for domestic airfare in summer 2025 was $432.
Some small airports stranded
Spirit competes directly with other airlines on many routes, but a handful of smaller airports are now completely closed.
According to OAG, eight of Spirit’s 121 routes are operated exclusively by the carrier, and five of those routes remain out of service.
Those routes are:
- Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) − Palm Beach International Airport (PBI)
- ACY – Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW)
- Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) – San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
- Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (LBE, near Pittsburgh) − Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- Key West International Airport (EYW) − FLL
It’s unclear whether other airlines will eventually backfill these routes.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and can be reached at zwichter@usatoday.com.
