With Merger Scuttled, Spirit Airlines Faces an Uncertain Future. Is Bankruptcy a Possibility?

Spirit Airlines hasn’t made money since before the pandemic, ticket sales haven’t bounced back as quickly as the carrier expected, and dozens of its planes will be grounded at times this year because of a problem with the engines. A sale to JetBlue represented a lifeline for Spirit, which faces $1.1 billion in debt maturing next year. But a federal judge in Boston scuttled that plan by ruling Tuesday that JetBlue’s $3.8 billion proposal to buy Spirit violates antitrust law. Now, some Wall Streeters who follow Spirit are tossing around the B word—bankruptcy. The judge had even hinted at such an outcome during the trial....