President Trump said Thursday that he was weighing a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines with the intent of reselling the struggling budget carrier after oil prices drop.
The president confirmed his continued interest in offering Spirit a financial lifeline after a lawyer told a U.S. Bankruptcy Court that the airline was in advanced talks with the U.S. government on a financing deal that would allow Spirit to emerge from Chapter 11 protection.
“They have some good aircraft and good assets, and when the prices of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,” Mr. Trump said, speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event. “I’d love to be able to save those jobs. I’d love to be able to save an airline.”
“And we’re looking, if we could get it for the right price, I’d do it to save the jobs,” the president said.
Mr. Trump stoked speculation of a deal to save Spirit on Tuesday when he encouraged a buyer to rescue the airline and suggested the federal government could help keep it afloat.
The White House has attempted to blame Spirit’s predicament on the Biden administration, which in 2023 sued to stop JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion. A little more than a year before Mr. Trump replaced Joe Biden as president, a federal judge in Dallas blocked a proposed Spirit-JetBlue merger, saying it would drive up airfares for passengers.
The president said he had “a smart person” in mind who could potentially run Spirit and that he believed the airline could get back on solid financial footing.
“And they have some very good slots too, which are pretty valuable,” the president added, referring to scheduled times allocated for airlines to take off or land at airports when demand exceeds available capacity.
Following the president’s comments Thursday, Spirit Airlines President & CEO Dave Davis said in a statement: “We are grateful for President Trump’s support and look forward to continuing to work with him and his Administration on a solution that protects thousands of jobs, preserves and enhances competition and helps ensure Americans continue to have access to affordable fares.”
Spirit has struggled with losses for years. The airline filed for Chapter 11 protection in November 2024 and again in August 2025. With the Iran war driving up jet fuel costs for all airlines, creditors earlier this month expressed doubts about Spirit’s ongoing viability, raising the possibility that the airline recognized for its bright yellow planes would be forced to sell its assets and cease operating.
Before Mr. Trump’s comments about the government buying the airline outright, Marshall Huebner, a lawyer with Davis Polk who is representing Spirit, said during a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing in New York that government financing would make a reorganization possible and help Spirit be more competitive.
Details of a potential deal were shared with all three of the company’s primary creditor groups, Huebner said.
It was not immediately clear how a federal acquisition would differ from the terms that were under discussion. The size and terms of the financing aid were not shared publicly.
CBS News reported earlier this week that the Trump administration is in advanced discussions with Spirit about a bailout. A financing package could include a loan of up to $500 million, in exchange for warrants that would allow the federal government to take a potentially substantial ownership stake, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
While the federal government has stepped in to help the airline industry broadly in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, propping up a single carrier is an unusual move.
Spirit Airlines is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and employs about 15,000 people. About 6,000 of those employees are based in Florida.
“A lot of people work for Spirit. We care about the people that work for Spirit in this industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS News earlier this week. “The question will be, can we do anything to save Spirit and make it viable, or would we be putting good money into a company that inevitably is gonna be liquidated? And that’s a decision that our teams look at and the president has to be briefed on and, and we’ll make a decision together.”
Several lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, also balked at the idea of a bailout. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on X on Wednesday that a deal for Spirit would be a “terrible idea.”
“If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either,” Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, posted on X. “Not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”
The union that represents the airline’s pilots, on the other hand, voiced “strong support” for a rescue deal.
“Spirit is the reason so many Americans can afford to visit family, travel for work, or take a vacation,” said Capt. Ryan P. Muller, chair of the Spirit Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council. “When Spirit enters a market, fares go down.”
As of the end of last year, Spirit owned 48 planes and leased another 83, all of which were part of the Airbus A320 family. It announced plans last month to reduce its total fleet to 76 to 80 planes by the third quarter of this year, as part of its bankruptcy restructuring process. The airline also owned 18 spare engines and had 16 under lease as of last year.
Spirit’s relatively young fleet has made it an attractive acquisition target. But previous buyout attempts from budget rivals like JetBlue and Frontier were unsuccessful both before and during Spirit’s first bankruptcy.
contributed to this report.
