U.S. politicians pointing fingers amid Spirit shutdown

The Spirit Airlines shutdown over the weekend has triggered a political fight over who’s to blame, with Trump administration officials pointing to a Biden-era court ruling that blocked the airline’s merger with JetBlue while Democrats blame fuel prices driven up by the conflict with Iran. 

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Voice actor and TikTok creator Hunter Peterson unknowingly kicked off a now-viral campaign to bring Spirit Airlines back to life through cooperative ownership. 

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Spirit Airlines ceased operations over the weekend after 34 years in business, leaving customers stranded and thousands of employees out of work following a failed restructuring process and rising fuel costs.

“Let’s buy Spirit” 

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Spirit Airlines LaGuardia Airport terminal in Queens is seen on May 5, 2026, in New York City, U.S. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images) –>

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What they’re saying:

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“There’s more than 250 million individuals over the age of 18 in the United States. Now, if we took only 20% of them and paid basically the average fare of a Spirit Airlines flight, which is somewhere around $30 to $40, we could buy Spirit Airlines,” he posted on TikTok shortly after Spirit went under last week. 

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But he didn’t expect the campaign to catch wind. 

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“This started as a joke and this is rapidly going out of control,” he said in another TikTok video. “I step away to go to dinner, and I come back to the website and (see) $2.3 million (pledged).”

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In later videos, he shared that his initial website crashed at one point, and he asked for help from website developers, PR experts and aviation lawyers because the attention he was getting was becoming overwhelming. He also shared he had the support from thousands of former Spirit flight attendants after meeting with union representatives. 

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RELATED: Spirit Airlines shutting down immediately: What customers can do

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By the numbers:

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According to the site, more than $133,000 pledges have come through – with $132 million pledged at the time of this publication. 

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The starting pledge to show intent is $45, or, “the average one-way Spirit fare.” 

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The average pledge size was said to be $989. 

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The backstory:

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Peterson’s idea to cooperatively own Spirit Airlines points heavily to the cooperative ownership behind the Green Bay Packers, which is owned by more than half a million stockholders. It is the NFL’s only publicly owned franchise. 

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RELATED: Traveling to Europe soon? These entry requirements have changed

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Dig deeper:

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But, unlike ownership in the Packers, ownership in so-called “Spirit 2.0” could lend a profit proportional to your pledge amount. 

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However, each pledge renders one equal vote.

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What’s next:

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The campaign says it’s trying to reach a target of $1.75 billion, and that this is all a proposed concept for the time being. 

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RELATED: Delta cuts snacks, drinks on hundreds of short flights

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Scam sites

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Meanwhile:

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The campaign has gained so much momentum and activity that scam sites have spawned. 

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Peterson posted on TikTok to say the only official sites associated with his movement are letsbuyspirit.com and letsbuyspiritair.com – and reiterated that pledges only show intent at this time and no money is actually being collected. 

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If a Spirit ownership site asks for payment information, it’s a scam, he said. 

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