Last week, Spirit, a budget airline carrier, cancelled all flights and announced that the airline would be shut down. The airline, originally one of the most profitable in the country, struggled to maintain its profitability amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and had filed for bankruptcy. The recent increase in gas prices due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran further interfered with its financial recovery, and negotiations with the Trump administration to receive a $500 million aid package, allowing the U.S. government to have a stake in the company, ultimately broke down.
This shutdown will have many negative affects on working people. Firstly, Spirit Airlines employed 17,000 people, and during the initial announcement, had immediately laid off around 4,000 workers in Florida. Secondly, the loss of a budget airline carrier, and the subsequent private equity firms waiting to buy the bankrupt company, mean that working people will pay an even greater amount for plane tickets. Many mourned the loss of the airline as well as the loss in jobs. In response, Hunter Peterson, a voice actor, started a campaign on TikTok called “Spirit 2.0,” where he encouraged ordinary people to contribute money to buy the airline and turn it into a publicly-owned carrier. So far, the campaign has raised $214 million. The intent is to maintain a cheap, budget airline owned by the people, preventing private equity, billionaires, and hedge funds from “[gutting] it for parts.”
As the political and economic situation of the world grows more unstable, we will see similar situations – more bankruptcies, job losses, and increasing prices. However, the widespread opposition, the support for the laid off workers, and the millions of dollars that have been pledged in the Spirit 2.0 campaign, show people’s disdain for private equity in taking an ever-increasing cut out of people’s paychecks.
