Spirit Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following significant financial struggles due to mounting losses and debt maturities, the airline announced Monday. The filing comes after two failed mergers in less than two years – one recently with Frontier and another earlier in 2024 with JetBlue – which left the ultra-low-cost carrier in a bind after repetitive quarterly losses.

Spirit Airlines, Inc., a prominent low-cost carrier with multiple weekly flights to the U.S. Virgin Islands, has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a New York court, listing assets and liabilities valued between $1 billion and $10 billion.

Spirit Airlines higher premarket after disclosing a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring plan with support from bondholders. Expected delisting, bankruptcy emergence in Q1 2025.

The company said in a statement that the COVID-19 pandemic was the “primary driver of our financial challenges"

Struggling US budget carrier Spirit Airlines has filed for a pre-arranged Chapter 11 restructuring process, from which it hopes to emerge in the first quarter of next year having already secured investment commitments from existing bondholders.

Budget carrier Spirit Airlines announced early Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it expects to spend the next year going through the process.

The bankruptcy filing on Monday comes as Spirit Airlines had recorded increasingly steep losses post-pandemic.