With Spirit in liquidation, here's what happens next to its planes - BERITAJA

Spirit Airlines jets connected the tarmac astatine Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport successful Florida connected May 2, 2026. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Most of Spirit Airlines' fleet is grounded. But a fewer of its agleam yellowish planes were successful the aerial this week — including Nomadic Flight 189 from Spirit's erstwhile hub successful Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

It wasn't carrying immoderate passengers, conscionable a skeleton unit ferrying the level to Arizona for storage.

When Spirit Airlines stopped flying past weekend, it near much than 90 planes astatine dozens of airports about the country. Spirit besides has engines, spare parts, existent estate, and different valuable assets that it's hoping to liquidate. Within days, Spirit's lawyers were successful tribunal asking for support to commencement an "orderly wind-down of operations."

This is analyzable because Spirit doesn't really ain about of its planes. The mostly — much than 60 planes, about two-thirds of its progressive fleet — were leased, according to tribunal filings. And the owners want those planes back.

"Everybody tries to move them arsenic quickly arsenic possible," said Steve Giordano, the managing partner of the Nomadic Aviation Group, which is successful the business of ferrying planes crossed the country. He useful pinch six of the companies that ain Spirit's jets.

"Some are already about apt successful the pipeline to beryllium leased again. Some are going to person the engines removed, moved connected to different airframes and those craft are going to get leased. Some are going to get parted out. Some, cipher knows," Giordano said successful an interview.

Spirit, too, is looking to monetize thing it can: planes, engines, gates, moreover landing slots astatine congested airports. According to tribunal filings, Spirit has 28 planes it could sell, each of them successful the Airbus A320 family. It besides owns an agency building successful South Florida, attraction facilities, and different assets that different hose mightiness want to buy.

"Spirit has gates astatine immoderate very important, very celebrated airports," said Henry Harteveldt, an hose expert astatine the Atmosphere Research Group, including world airports successful Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

"I wouldn't beryllium amazed if we saw immoderate different airlines effort to get astatine slightest immoderate of Spirit's gates astatine immoderate of these different airports," he said.

Spirit besides holds immoderate coveted takeoff and landing slots astatine LaGuardia Airport successful New York and Newark Liberty International Airport successful New Jersey.

"You could easy waste slots astatine those constrained airports, and galore airlines will beryllium successful statement to bargain them," said Ahmed Abdelghany, a professor of operations guidance astatine Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University successful Florida.

Spirit Airlines' self-service check-in kiosks astatine Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport stood idle aft the institution ceased world operations past weekend. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

The first situation for the companies trying to repossess Spirit's planes is conscionable getting to them. Right now, they're parked astatine airdrome gates, aliases wherever they happened to beryllium erstwhile Spirit ceased operations. "It's an situation of wide confusion," Giordano said. "No 1 wants to touch them. There's nary existent method for getting them."

Nomadic is sending qualified pilots to alert these planes — successful immoderate cases, pilots who worked for Spirit until very recently, Giordano said. But they're often wearing jeans and t-shirts, not hose uniforms, and sometimes brushwood sizeable resistance.

"You spell up to a personification of authority and say, 'I request to get connected that airplane, I'm repossessing it.' And the first point they're going to opportunity is, 'no, no, no, no, no,'" Giordano said. "They're going to telephone retired the sheriffs, the airdrome police, the airdrome managers. And everybody's small heart is ever no."

The biggest problem facing Spirit and the galore companies that ain its jets whitethorn beryllium timing.

"One of the challenges for Spirit and its creditors is that the precocious costs of pitchy substance makes galore of Spirit's planes little appealing to acquire," Harteveldt said.

The price of pitchy fuel is up about 70% since the war successful Iran began successful February. That's portion of the logic Spirit went under, and different airlines are burning done rate too. Harteveldt says that's creating uncertainty successful the industry, conscionable arsenic Spirit is trying to waste its assets.

"I deliberation the hose will find buyers. It conscionable whitethorn beryllium a slower trading rhythm than had this happened a fewer years agone aliases moreover conscionable like, say, 3 months ago," Harteveldt said.

That intends galore of those agleam yellowish planes whitethorn beryllium sitting successful the godforsaken successful Arizona for a while.