Trump administration and Spirit Airlines in advanced discussions over bailout, sources say
The Trump administration is in advanced discussions with budget carrier Spirit Airlines about a bailout, sources familiar with the negotiations told CBS News.
The financing package could include a loan of up to $500 million, in exchange for warrants that would allow the federal government to take a potentially substantial ownership stake in the beleaguered airline, the sources said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is one of the chief proponents pushing the Trump administration to take an ownership stake in the carrier, multiple sources told CBS News.
The deal is not done and is subject to change, but could be finalized imminently, the sources said. The negotiations were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The talks come after Mr. Trump weighed in publicly Tuesday, suggesting that while he preferred another airline acquire Spirit, he wanted his administration to look at a rescue package.
A spokesperson for Spirit Airlines declined to comment, and said that the carrier was operating as normal.
The Department of Transportation also declined to comment. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Tuesday that, while no decision had been made, "the clock is ticking."
While the federal government has stepped in to help the airline industry broadly in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, propping up a single carrier is an unusual move.
"A lot of people work for Spirit. We care about the people that work for Spirit in this industry," Duffy told CBS News. "The question will be, can we do anything to save Spirit and make it viable, or would we be putting good money into a company that inevitably is gonna be liquidated? And that's a decision that our teams look at and the president has to be briefed on and, and we'll make a decision together."
Spirit Airlines is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and employs about 15,000 people. About 6,000 of those employees are based in Florida.
Prices rise when budget airlines leave
Prices generally rise when an ultra low cost carrier exits the market. Spirit ended its last two routes at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport in December 2025. Both routes — St. Paul to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and St. Paul to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — involved Delta hubs. Within days, Delta raised fares, in some cases by as much as 50%.
When fellow ultra low cost carrier Frontier Airlines departed a market, average fares on that route increased, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium.
In 149 markets where Frontier stopped flying between 2023 and 2025, average fares increased 15.5%, or about $18, per ticket. Prices rose only about 2.5%, or about 93 cents, in markets where Frontier continued to fly. Nearly 79% of those 149 routes saw average fares increase the following year. In the 91 routes that Frontier exited between 2024 and 2025, 85% saw fares rise, by an average of $26 per ticket.
In some markets, the prices were more pronounced: Flights between Fort Meyers, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, jumped $127 in the year after Frontier left, while trips between Cincinnati and Philadelphia increased by $83.
"Budget airlines are like weights when it comes to airfares," said Atmosphere Research Group airline analyst Henry Harteveldt. "They help keep fares down on the airlines that compete with them. When there are no budget airlines on a route, airfares take off faster than the planes themselves."
