Spirit Airlines announced on Saturday that it has gone out of business after 34 years. The ultralow cost airline noted that it had ‘started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately’. Although Spirit had gone bankrupt twice before, the company said high oil prices, which have been rising because of the war with Iran, made it impossible to stay aloft. Now, the last ATC radio message to a Spirit flight has surfaced.
Emotional ATC message
The final scheduled Spirit Airlines flight delivered an emotional goodbye that has now gone viral across the aviation world.
“Spirit Wings 1, just want to say our thoughts are with you and your colleagues over there at the bananas as the next couple of days unfold,” an air traffic controller told the crew. “Hey man, we really appreciate that. Thank you. It’s hard to believe this is it,” the pilot responded.
The exchange continued as controllers reflected on years of working with Spirit crews over the radio.
“Yeah, no kidding. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you guys on the radios. Hope you all make it out OK,” the controller added.
American Airlines pilot shows support
An American Airlines pilot also chimed in with support for the Spirit crew.
“Hey Spirit, from us at American, good luck to you all. Sorry to hear what happened.”
Moments later, the Spirit pilot asked whether any more company flights were expected to arrive after theirs.
“Is there any other Spirit flights coming in after us?” the pilot asked.
“I don’t see anything, so you might be the last one,” the controller replied.
“Might be a repo flight, but yeah, I guess this is it. Probably the last revenue flight tonight,” the pilot said.
“Well, it was a pleasure working with you guys, and I wish you the best,” the controller concluded.
“Thank you very much,” the pilot answered.
The emotional radio traffic quickly spread across social media platforms, where aviation fans, airline workers and travelers reacted with sadness over the possible end of the ultra-low-cost carrier.
“Damn, it’s kind of sad hearing this🥺,” one user wrote on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Best wishes to these folks and hope they find other jobs soon. They are humans with families and lives to take care of,” another user added.