Good morning. After 34 years in operation, Spirit Airlines is shutting down. Its parent company, Spirit Aviation Holdings, announced Saturday that it had begun an orderly wind-down and canceled all flights.
The company said the decision followed unsuccessful efforts to restructure the business, raise capital, and pursue transactions that could strengthen its financial position. It cited a “material increase in oil prices” and other business pressures that weakened its outlook, adding that “with no additional funding available,” Spirit had no choice but to begin the wind-down. A possible Trump administration-led rescue deal was not reached.
For CFOs, the Spirit story may be less a travel-industry drama than a case study in what happens when a capital-intensive business loses the assumptions that made its model work.
In a Fortune article, “How Spirit Airlines’ business model collapsed,” Shawn Tully explains that Spirit built its advantage on ultra-low costs, no-frills pricing, and dense leisure routes. But after COVID-19, a failed Frontier deal, JetBlue’s $3.7 billion offer, and a blocked merger that left management in limbo for two years, the airline emerged with fewer options and less room for error.
Spirit first filed for bankruptcy in November 2024 and emerged in March 2025 with a new strategy. “The plan failed, in part because Spirit had a reputation for mediocre customer service at best,” Tully writes. What Spirit offered was not enough to offset that “historical brand deficit and get the extra revenue,” Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James, told Fortune.
By August 2025, Spirit was back in bankruptcy court for the second time in under two years. You can read more of Tully’s analysis here.
Another factor was fuel. Spirit built its restructuring plan around jet fuel costs averaging about $2.24 a gallon in 2026 and $2.14 in 2027. As of May 2, jet fuel prices have surged to $4.51 per gallon on average. That is not just a cost spike. It is a stress test of scenario planning, liquidity, and whether a restructuring plan was built for volatility or for hope.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Robert Dillard has resigned as CFO of KB Home, effective May 8. Dillard's decision to leave wasn't related to any disagreement with the company, according to an SEC filing. The company didn't include information about Dillard’s successor.
Suketu Upadhyay, CFO and EVP of Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZBH), a global medical technology provider, departed the company on April 28 for a new professional opportunity. Paul Stellato, currently controller and chief accounting officer, was appointed interim CFO, while the company conducts an internal and external search to identify a permanent successor.
Big Deal
A Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis found that generative AI adoption at work rises with income.
Among currently employed respondents, 39% said they either use AI tools in their current job or have used them at work in the past 12 months. College graduates were more than twice as likely to have used AI tools at work as those without a college degree, 58.7% versus 22.9%.
The gap was even wider across income groups. AI adoption rose from 15.9% among workers earning less than $50,000 a year to 66.3% among those earning more than $200,000. Full-time workers were also more likely than part-time workers to use AI, 42.7% versus 24.7%.
These patterns suggest that workplace AI adoption currently favors higher-income, more-educated, and full-time workers, according to the report. That raises questions about whether AI may widen, rather than narrow, existing labor market inequalities.
Going deeper
Gallup’s annual "Economy and Personal Finance" survey finds that the high cost of living continues to top Americans’ list of the most important financial problems facing their families. Inflation and high prices are cited by 31% as top financial problems. Energy costs, which have risen notably this year, are mentioned by 13% of Americans, up 10 percentage points from last year and the highest since 2008—tying housing costs as the second-biggest concern. Health care ranks fourth at 8%, consistent with readings since 2020.
Overheard
"As a wife, mom of two boys, leader and board member, I’ve learned to focus on being present, purposeful and giving myself grace along the way. Progress over perfection, always."
—Mandy Fields, CFO of e.l.f. Beauty, wrote in a LinkedIn post.
