With Spirit Airlines continuing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and confirming plans to operate a fleet of only 76 aircraft, compared to 214 pre-bankruptcy, the airline has removed significant capacity from its network.
This includes its main gateway in Florida, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL), where competitors have used the opportunity to grow, including Frontier Airlines and JetBlue, two airlines that had previously attempted to acquire Spirit Airlines.
And there might be a fourth player in the game to add capacity at Spirit Airlines’ largest base. The Engine Cowl explores how these airlines have moved around their capacity at FLL as Spirit Airlines continues to downsize its operations.
Slashing capacity at FLL
At the time of writing, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that during the first eight months of 2026, Spirit Airlines will cut total departures from FLL by 11%, and capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), by 12%.
At least nine routes from the same period in 2025 will not reappear in 2026, including, for example, flights to Bradley International Airport (BDL) or Rochester International Airport (ROC).
At its peak in 2025, during the month of January, Spirit Airlines had scheduled 648 weekly flights to 62 destinations. In January 2026, that number was down to 568 weekly departures and 60 destinations.
It is safe to assume, though, that the low-cost carrier will shrink further in the coming weeks and months. As the airline outlined in its post-bankruptcy plan, not only will it reduce the size of its fleet from 214 pre-bankruptcy to 76, but it will also offer fewer weekly frequencies, focusing on “peak period flying, both by day-of-week and seasonal” trends.
While that will reduce its financial obligations – with a planned aircraft-related debt of $1.4 billion compared to $7.4 billion before it filed for Chapter 11 – it will open the doors for competitors, including at FLL.
Rytis Beresnevicius
JetBlue becomes the largest airline at FLL
JetBlue, even without an invitation to come in, walked into Spirit Airlines’ bar – and yes, that is a Sinners reference – and decided that it would become the main character at FLL.
Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that JetBlue will now be the largest airline at FLL, both in terms of total departing seats and ASKs, during the eight-month period in 2026. Compared to the same period in 2025, JetBlue’s total departing seats and ASKs are up 36%, and 32%, respectively.
During the first eight months of 2025, Spirit Airlines was responsible for 25.5% of FLL’s departing capacity, while JetBlue’s share was 20.5%. In 2026, JetBlue now controls 25.4% of the total departing ASKs, with Spirit Airlines’ share going down to 21%.
But what are JetBlue’s plans at FLL?
On March 12, for example, the airline said it would expand services on four routes from FLL, including converting spring-break-limited flights to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) to year-round, daily flights starting June 18.
Out of the four routes, Spirit Airlines has scheduled departures on three, at least for the first eight months of 2026.
Nevertheless, during the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference on March 17, Joanna Geraghty, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JetBlue, said that the airline is having a “generational moment” and a “great opportunity” to grow at FLL.
“We have already 20 new routes and a significant uptick in high-demand frequencies. […] Customers are not surprisingly responding extremely well to the JetBlue product in Fort Lauderdale. RASM [revenue per ASM – ed. note] is up low single digits on capacity that is up double digits.”
Geraghty pointed out that JetBlue now has more flights at FLL than before the pandemic, and its leadership continues “to think there is meaningful opportunity to grow” at the airport. “There is a large terminal expansion project planned that we are very much a part of” she added, noting that some competitors at FLL would have difficulties matching JetBlue’s lie-flat product.
Marty St. George, the President of JetBlue, added that when it guided that it would have a headwind from the “significant amount of capacity” at FLL, “very late in the game, within 90 days, and the headwind is less than half of what we thought it would be.”
“The customers are absolutely responding. And to me, success breeds success, which is why we continue to grow, and we will continue to grow as facilities become available.”
During the airline’s Q4 2025 earnings call, both Geraghty and St. George confirmed that JetBlue is musing whether to build a lounge at FLL, something it has done at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and will do at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).
Rytis Beresnevicius
Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines’ hats are in the ring
Another airline that has significantly expanded capacity at FLL is Frontier Airlines. Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that during the eight-month period, Frontier Airlines will more than double its departures, seats, and ASKs at FLL.
Still, Frontier Airlines is growing at FLL on the back of a fairly low threshold. During the eight-month periods in 2025 and 2026, the airline’s total airport ASK share was 1.4% and 3.8%, respectively.
Another competitor that will grow substantially is Allegiant Air, which is just ahead of Frontier Airlines in terms of departing ASKs at FLL in 2026. Similar to Frontier Airlines, Allegiant Air’s market share at the airport was not significant – 3.3% during the first eight months of 2025 – yet is scheduled to grow to 4.2%.
Ahead of the two are the four major US carriers, including American Airlines, which is also slated to grow significantly at FLL, adding 27.4% YoY in ASKs.
Still, unlike Frontier Airlines, which will end 2026 and 2027 with the same number of aircraft it had in 2025, following early lease terminations and delivery deferrals, Allegiant Air has plans to take delivery of up to 50 Boeing 737 MAX 8-200s through 2028, 16 of which are already in its fleet as of December 31, 2025.
The carrier also plans to close its merger with Sun Country Airlines in Q2 or Q3, further expanding in the short term.
So, Spirit Airlines will have quite the fight on its hands at FLL. The question is whether it will have the resources – both in capacity and cash – to fend off competitors that have set their sights on FLL’s limited gate resources, even if the airport adds another terminal with five new gates, slated for completion by 2030.
The new terminal’s project administrator? JetBlue.
Rytis Beresnevicius
