Spirit Airways will exit 5 cities in January, the newest cuts from the bankrupt provider.
The Dania Seashore, Florida-based discounter will finish service to Milwaukee Mitchell Worldwide Airport (MKE), Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX), Frederick Douglass Higher 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 also 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 scale back its schedule by roughly 1% of seats, information from aviation analytics agency Cirium reveals.
Spirit CEO Dave Davis informed employees on Tuesday in a memo considered by TPG that the cuts had been to “higher align with our smaller fleet and concentrate on our strongest performing markets.”
With this batch of cities, Spirit has now minimize flights to 18 locations since submitting for its second Chapter 11 chapter in lower than a yr 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 extra schedule cuts had been coming in 2026, equal to a roughly 20% discount from this yr.
The airline has stated it should 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 identical 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 yr.
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” in the marketplace.
Under are particulars of the 9 routes Spirit will finish in January, Cirium schedule information reveals:
- BGA-FLL (no different air service)
- MKE-DTW (served by Delta Air Traces)
- 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)
