Update: Spirit Airlines announced early Saturday morning that it had started winding down its operations and was cancelling all its flights after failing to secure a federal bailout. Read the latest here, and get our previous coverage below.
Spirit Airlines is making plans to cease operations as soon as Saturday, barring last minute intervention, CBS News has learned.
Negotiations over a $500 million government aid package remained stalled after bondholders balked at the terms.
Trump administration officials have been told Spirit will be shutting down operations in the next 24 hours. There will be no last-minute administration effort regarding a bailout, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
But when President Trump was asked about a bailout for Spirit Airlines Friday, he said, “Well, I guess we’re looking at it. If we can do it, we’ll do it but only if it’s a good deal.”
The president, who was departing for Florida from the White House, told reporters, “I’d like to save the jobs, but we’ll have an announcement some time today. We gave them a final proposal.”
The airline’s available cash on hand was expected to last only a matter of days, CBS News previously reported.
Spirit continues normal operations Friday, and sources emphasize the airline’s focus remains on safely completing those flights.
A spokesperson for the bankrupt airline declined to comment on the ongoing discussions, saying only that “Spirit is operating as usual.”
Employees at Spirit’s headquarters in Dania Beach, Florida, spent Friday waiting for word about the fate of the airline and their jobs. There had not been official communication to employees about what happens next, but as one Spirit employee told CBS News, “Everybody knows.”
Spirit serves more than 40 cities in the U.S. along with international destinations in Central and South America, and has its main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida.
Industry experts said a Spirit Airlines shutdown would ripple through commercial aviation, likely resulting in higher fares as the budget carrier exits the market, as well as affecting ticket-holders who’d need to scramble to make other plans.
