While many of us were sleeping on Saturday morning, Spirit was busy shutting down and calling it quits at 3 a.m. ET. Skift covered the impending and then completed collapse in multiple stories over the 24-hour period (see More Headlines, below for all of them), including what Spirit’s grounding means for the rest of the aviation industry in the U.S. and elsewhere.

While Spirit’s demise is not wholly about the high cost of jet fuel, all airlines are grappling with the fact that one of their major costs has roughly doubled since the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran. Some costs are being passed on to consumers, and some routes are being halted to prevent major losses.

As Airline Reporter Meghna Maharishi wrote in her Saturday newsletter, quoting Spirit CEO Dave Davis: "Everybody is burning cash — we just had a smaller pile to start with. They're not that far behind us in the race."

P.S. Airline Weekly subscribers can get even more details about the collapse in this week’s issue, Spirit Gives Up the Ghost.

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As of March 2026, the global travel industry is no longer moving in a predictable direction. The global travel industry in March 2026 is at an inflection point that is both geopolitical and behavioral. The Skift Travel Health Index, at 101, indicates 1% year-on-year growth. It is however, masking a widening gap between thriving regions and those navigating conflicts. Regional volatility, specifically the ongoing U.S.–Iran crisis, is altering global travel flows. The impact is most visible in the Middle East and Africa, where the index plummeted to 87, a sharp 13% drop over the same month last year.

How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to understand global market movements. Paid subscribers get full access here.

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