Spirit Airlines’ collapse left travelers without nonstop options on more than a dozen routes across the US and Latin America, but competitors are already moving to fill much of the gap.
The now-defunct budget airline abruptly ceased flying in the early hours of May 2 after years of unrecoverable losses driven by rising labor and changing traveler habits, and then the recent surge in fuel prices.
While Spirit held only about 1.7% of the US market share when it fell, per Cirium, its absence still matters. A Business Insider analysis using data from Cirium and Raymond James found that 17 routes and one airport were abandoned after Spirit’s shutdown.
Among the hardest hit were Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles outside Pittsburgh.
Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows Atlantic City lost roughly half its flights, with budget carriers Breeze and Allegiant still flying to the airport; the Pennsylvania airport lost all its airline service.
In places like Atlantic City, where Spirit pressured fares, airlines facing less competition now will likely raise ticket prices.
“The number of routes with only one competitor have stepped up from eight to 63 (2% to 19% of total) while those with four or more stepped down from 203 to 52 (60% to 15% of total),” RJ analyst Savanthi Syth said in a note shared with Business Insider about the impact of Spirit’s now-empty network.
Here’s the list of now-empty routes. Eight are expected to regain nonstop service this year.
From Atlantic City:
- West Palm Beach
- Orlando (MCO)
- Myrtle Beach
- Fort Myers
From Fort Lauderdale:
- Armenia, Colombia
- Barranquilla, Colombia
- Belize City
- Cali, Colombia
- Key West
- Lima, Peru
- San Antonio
- St. Thomas
- St. Croix
- Comayagua, Honduras
From Latrobe:
- Myrtle Beach
- Orlando (MCO)
From Orlando:
The tiny Labrobe airport was exclusively served by Spirit for 15 years and was even building a second gate to support growth before it was left vacant. Cirium shows the last time the airport had no airline service was in early 2011.
Justin Merriman/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Many abandoned Spirit routes will be rescued
Roughly half of Spirit’s abandoned routes will not remain empty for long, as airlines including Breeze, Allegiant, and JetBlue move in. Carriers like United, Frontier, Delta, and American have also added flights in response to Spirit’s demise, but they are not replacements.
Atlantic City will see relief starting May 21, when Allegiant — a lesser-known budget leisure carrier headquartered in Las Vegas — starts its new nonstop route to Myrtle Beach. The route was planned before Spirit shut down.
Breeze, a newer low-cost carrier focused on niche point-to-point flying, will also begin serving the beach town from Atlantic City in October, announcing its plans in the wake of Spirit’s collapse. It’s also taking over Spirit’s former routes from the resort city to Orlando, West Palm Beach, and Fort Myers this year.
Allegiant already travels to Orlando from Atlantic City, but not to the main Orlando International Airport (MCO), where Spirit flew. It flies instead to Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), the city’s secondary airport, but it’s farther from downtown and attractions like Walt Disney World.
While Raymond James considers routes to nearby competing airports as still served, Business Insider counted them separately because airport swaps can affect traveler convenience.
Fort Lauderdale — once Spirit’s biggest Florida hub — will see a surge of replacement flying from JetBlue. The airline announced its addition of 11 new routes from the city, including service to Cali and Barranquilla, two destinations left abandoned by Spirit.
However, Spirit’s former nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale to St. Thomas; St. Croix; Comayagua, Honduras; Key West; Belize; Lima; and Armenia will remain vacant for now. Southwest will run a handful of flights to San Antonio in late 2026, but the route will otherwise be empty.
Travelers can still reach those cities nonstop from nearby Miami — about 26 miles from Fort Lauderdale — via American Airlines, Chile’s LATAM Airlines, and the South American budget carrier SKY Airline.
Meanwhile, Orlando’s Medellín service is set to return, though not as a direct replacement for Spirit. Colombian carrier Avianca is resuming its previously planned seasonal summer flights in June, becoming the route’s only airline.
With only one carrier now on dozens of more routes, fares are likely to rise soon. A Business Insider study in April, using Cirium data, found that routes where Spirit exited saw an average ticket price jump of 14%. Some rose by over $100.
“When any airline leaves a market, it results in a drop in the supply of seats,” Mike Arnot, an airline industry consultant, previously told Business Insider. “That generally means that airfare will increase, and it doesn’t much matter which airline departs a market.”
