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Total amount raised
$2.27 Billion
Latest funding date
10/10/2025
Location
Spirit Airlines has raised funding over three rounds, with the latest being a Post-IPO Debt round. Spirit's former parent traded as SAVE until the shares were cancelled in March 2025, when control passed to its prepetition bondholders.
What Is Spirit Airlines?
Spirit Airlines was an ultra-low-cost airline based in Dania Beach, Florida that ceased all flights on May 2, 2026. Ownership passed to prepetition bondholders at the March 2025 Chapter 11 emergence. The SAVE shares were cancelled in March 2025; Spirit Aviation Holdings now trades as FLYYQ.
Spirit furloughed 1,800 flight attendants before the wind-down was approved on May 5, 2026. The company is known for its budget-friendly travel services, catering to a wide range of customers seeking affordable air travel solutions.
How Much Funding Has Spirit Airlines Raised?
- Post-IPO Debt Round
- Amount Raised: USD 600,000,000
- Date: November 2022
- Lead Investors: Not publicly disclosed
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To provide liquidity and support general corporate needs.
- Chapter 11 Exit Financing (Equity Rights Offering and Secured Notes)
- Amount Raised: USD 350,000,000 in new equity plus USD 840,000,000 in secured notes issued at emergence (a further USD 795,000,000 of funded debt was converted to equity)
- Date: March 2025
- Lead Investors: Prepetition secured bondholders and convertible noteholders, including Citadel Advisors, PIMCO, and Western Asset Management
- Motivation Behind the Round: Funded emergence from the first Chapter 11 case on March 12, 2025. Rights offering ran December 30, 2024 to January 30, 2025, canceling SAVE shares.
- Debtor-in-Possession Financing
- Amount Raised: USD 475,000,000 multi-tranche facility (USD 200,000,000 funded at court approval, with further tranches of up to USD 75,000,000 on November 7, 2025, USD 100,000,000 on December 13, 2025, and USD 100,000,000 at a later date)
- Date: October 2025
- Lead Investors: Existing bondholders of Spirit Aviation Holdings
- Motivation Behind the Round: Second Chapter 11 case filed August 29, 2025. Approved October 10, 2025 with an AerCap deal paying USD 150,000,000, rejecting 27 leases, providing 30 aircraft.
Total Amount Raised: USD 2,265,000,000. Current Valuation: Not publicly disclosed. The total combines the November 2022 notes, the March 2025 exit financing and the full October 2025 debtor-in-possession commitment, excluding debt converted to equity.
Key Investors
Here are some of the major investors in Spirit Airlines:
- Citadel Advisors
- Details: Part of the bondholder group that backstopped the USD 350 million equity rights offering and took control of Spirit when it emerged from its first Chapter 11 case on March 12, 2025.
- Investment Focus Areas: Multi-strategy hedge fund investing across credit and equities.
- Notable Investments: Not publicly disclosed.
- PIMCO
- Details: Part of the bondholder group behind the March 2025 exit financing, receiving equity for debt.
- Investment Focus Areas: Fixed income and credit, including distressed situations.
- Notable Investments: Not publicly disclosed.
- Western Asset Management
- Details: Part of the bondholder group behind the March 2025 exit financing.
- Investment Focus Areas: Fixed income and credit.
- Notable Investments: Not publicly disclosed.
What's Next for Spirit Airlines?
Spirit no longer operates; its last financing was the $475 million debtor-in-possession facility approved on October 10, 2025. The court approved a wind-down on May 5, 2026, and the case stays in Chapter 11 instead of converting to Chapter 7. The restructuring aimed to attract higher-paying customers and create new revenue streams, and the airline was wound down before that shift took hold.
With operations ended, no further fundraising is expected; remaining value goes to creditors from the sale of aircraft, slots and gates. Spirit emerged from its first Chapter 11 case on March 12, 2025, filed a second case on August 29, 2025 and stopped flying on May 2, 2026. However, challenges remain, including managing workforce reductions, addressing cost structure issues, and navigating a competitive market. Spirit did not overcome those challenges and is being liquidated instead.
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