Spirit Airlines apologized to the American public at a last-minute bankruptcy hearing Tuesday morning just days after its shock shutdown.
The budget-friendly airline shut down with immediate effect Saturday, affecting thousands of passengers who became stranded and nearly as many employees.
Marshall Huebner, an attorney for the former airline, took the stand in front of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean H. Lane in a White Plains, New York, courtroom to discuss the hardship it encountered that led to its shutdown, including a dramatic rise in fuel prices resulting from the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran.
The fuel "megaspike," Huebner said, was projected to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the airline's liquidity needs for the year.
Huebner also spoke about the breakdown of negotiations between the airline and the Trump administration that "almost made the impossible possible."
“Thank you, and sorry to the American public," Huebner said at the hearing.
While the airline had been struggling to maintain consistent profitability since the Covid-19 pandemic, its shutdown took many by surprise, including its approximately 17,000 employees.
NBC News obtained a letter that Spirit shared with around 4,000 of its employees in Florida on Saturday, laying them off with immediate effect.
"This layoff will be permanent, and the Company's operations at the locations will permanently cease," read the letter, signed by Vice President of Human Resources Suzanne Solon.
The former company also said it regrets not being able to give the employees more notice of their layoffs, saying it was because of an attempt to secure financial assistance from "lenders and from multiple other third parties."
"We were not able to because the Company was actively seeking capital to avoid these layoffs and closures and notice would have precluded the Company from obtaining the capital needed," Solon wrote.
The company shutdown stranded passengers and employees working layover flights. At the bankruptcy hearing, Huebner said the airline carried over 50,000 passengers in final flights Friday and transported all crew members to their home bases by Sunday night.
Huebner also issued a warning to the American public because of Spirit's recent absence from the market.
"Americans will soon be paying a billion, or two or three, dollars a year for plane tickets in the aftermath," he said.
