A large swath of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport — Spirit’s hub — is now a ghost town. And overnight, more than 10,000 jobs — more than 3,000 of them here in South Florida — are gone.
Among those affected employees was Craig, a flight attendant from Fort Lauderdale. He appeared Friday on WLRN's South Florida Roundup show with host Tim Padgett to talk about the end of Spirit Airlines and his job. He did not want to disclose his last name to protect his identity and future job prospects in the industry.
READ MORE: Spirit Airlines ceases operations after escalating financial struggles
" My on-call period started at midnight (Saturday), and there was already a bunch of rumors at that point internally that employees were hearing from people who worked in corporate that the end was near," he said. "And then shortly after, the media started picking up on it and saying 3 a.m — that was it."
The low-cost carrier, which had been struggling for years, announced it was ceasing operations last Saturday morning. It had been seeking a $500 million federal bailout from the White House. But those talks failed to yield a deal, leading the airline no choice but to stop flying "effective immediately."
"It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately," the airline said in a statement. "[A]ll flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 33 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come."
Craig said the announcement of Spirit Airlines — a company he had worked at for more than eight years — "didn't feel real."
"I felt like I was watching TV, but like some dramatic show that is depicting this going down and not actually my life," he said. "It still hasn't sank in all the way yet."
He said he and thousands of his fellow Spirit Airlines employees are hoping to get their final paychecks, noting that he's owed two payments.
Craig said he's also thankful other airline carriers are holding job fairs to help them find new jobs in the industry. He said Southwest, Frontier, United, American are all creating sites online for Spirit employees.
"It's not gonna give you preferential treatment in hiring, but it will get you to the front of the line to get that interview," he said.
In retrospect, said Craig, he believes the beginning of his airline's demise is rooted in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
"Ever since COVID, it felt like it was a slow decline where people wanted a more premium airline product and to have stuff included," he said. " So something changed in the traveling public."
He said the disappearance of Spirit Airlines will hurt airline travelers who relied on the low-cost carriers to keep travel affordable.
"I think we're gonna see a big jump [in fares]," he predicted.
You can listen to the full interview on the South Florida Roundup or wherever you get your podcasts by searching: The South Florida Roundup.
