Spirit Airlines CEO Says Carrier Just Ran Out of Runway
Alexis Thornton
Last weekSpirit Airlines, once the country's biggest ultra-low-cost carrier, is in the late stages of a corporate unraveling. In a recent interview, CEO Ted Christie put it bluntly, telling reporters the airline "just kind of ran out of runway" after years of mounting pressure on its low-fare model.
What Christie Said
The phrase struck a chord because it summed up months of speculation in plain terms. According to Christie, Spirit faced a perfect storm of shrinking margins, rising fuel and labor costs, and a rebound in demand for full-service flying that ultra-low-cost carriers were not positioned to capture. Spirit had already filed for Chapter 11 protection, restructured debt, and explored a failed merger with JetBlue. The CEO's remarks confirm what frequent flyers and analysts have been seeing for some time.