Broward-based Spirit Airlines files for second bankruptcy protection in a year

For the second time in a year, Broward-based Spirit Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to reports.

The airline is continuing to operate its flights.

“The right thing to do is to get on with a proper restructuring, a complete revamp of the business plan, the network plan,” John Milton, the chairman of Spirit’s board, told The Wall Street Journal. “We just need to get on with fixing this airline properly and thoroughly.”

The discount airline with the yellow planes had warned just a few weeks ago that the company might not make it to next year. On Friday, with the second Chapter 11 filing, that financial disclosure seems even more ominous.

In August, the Dania Beach company, in a 222-page financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the first bankrupcty might not be enough to save the airline.

Spirit came out of its first bankruptcy in February with a can-do spirit: new CEO Dave Davis added flights and reconfigured some seats to make them more “comfy."

Under the new bankruptcy filing, the airline said it will reduce its fleet, according to CNBC.

“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position spirit for the future,” Davis said in a statement on Friday.

In the SEC filing earlier in August, Spirit executives said they would consider selling additional assets but admitted even that may not be enough.

“If these initiatives are unsuccessful, management believes it is probable that we will be unable to comply with the minimum liquidity covenants under our debt obligations and credit card processing agreement at some point in the next 12 months,” the company said. That “would result in an event of default.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 5:25 PM.