Major Airline Servicing PA Airports Shuts Down: What To Know

PENNSYLVANIA — A major airline that serves the state's two largest airports has gone out of business.

Spirit Airlines announced early Saturday that it has started an orderly wind-down of operations, effective immediately.

"All Spirit flights have been cancelled, and Spirit guests should not go to the airport," a news release from the airline stated.

Spirit had serviced Pittsburgh and Philadelphia international airports.

Having been in bankruptcy twice since 2024, Spirit had been in talks with the federal government regarding a bailout package.

But the recent increase in oil prices attributable to the war with Iran and other issues contributed to Spirit's financial difficulties and ultimately led to its demise.

"For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry," Spirit CEO Dave Davis said.

In March 2026, we reached an agreement with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business.

"However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted."

Spirit said it will automatically process refunds for any flights purchased through Spirit with a credit or debit card to the original form of payment.

Guests who booked flights via a travel agent should contact the travel agent directly to request a refund.

Compensation for Guests who booked flights using any other methods, including a voucher, credit or Free Spirit points, will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process.

Guests can visit https://spiritrestructuring.com for more information about Spirit's wind-down process.

Known for its canary-yellow airplanes, Spirit employed about 17,000 people.