Spirit Airlines, the ultra-low-cost carrier that has connected Costa Rica to the United States with daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, is now staring down a very real possibility of total liquidation, and a decision could, according to a variety of sources, come as early as this week. For the hundreds of thousands of Americans and Costa Ricans who depend on those routes for affordable travel, the timing could not feel more sudden.
The airline has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since August, its second such filing in under a year. A restructuring deal reached with creditors in early 2026 was supposed to trim the airline’s debt from more than seven billion dollars down to around two billion, with a planned exit from bankruptcy by early summer.
That path now appears to be unraveling. Surging jet fuel costs, driven in part by the U.S. military conflict with Iran, have undermined the financial projections that underpinned that agreement, and creditor talks have reportedly broken down to the point where liquidation is actively on the table. Liquidation is not a restructuring. It means the doors close, the planes stop flying, and your ticket becomes a claim in a bankruptcy proceeding.
For travelers with existing Spirit bookings to or from Juan Santamaría International Airport, the immediate priority is to stop waiting and start acting. If the airline converts from Chapter 11 reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation, flights do not get rebooked — they simply disappear. Travelers who paid with a credit card retain the option to dispute the charge, which is essentially the strongest form of consumer protection available in this situation. Those who paid with debit cards have far fewer options.
Alternatives out of San José are available, though they come at a price. American, United, and JetBlue all serve the capital, and JetBlue has been actively expanding its footprint in Costa Rica, including newer service into the Liberia airport in Guanacaste. Fares on competing carriers will almost certainly spike in the event of a Spirit shutdown, so locking in a backup now, before any official announcements, is advisable for anyone with a trip in the coming weeks or months.
Free Spirit loyalty points are also at serious risk. In airline restructurings, loyalty programs are typically preserved as a way to retain customer goodwill. In a full liquidation, they are simply gone. Anyone sitting on a meaningful balance should consider whether there is any redemption possible before a decision is made.
There is a quieter irony buried in all of this for Costa Rica’s tourism sector. Spirit had already been pulling back from several of its Central American markets — canceling flights to Nicaragua, El Salvador, and trimming service to Guatemala — and industry analysts had noted that some of that displaced demand was finding its way into Costa Rica, which remains one of the region’s most sought-after destinations.
A full Spirit collapse would hurt the budget travel segment in the short term, but Costa Rica’s appeal as an eco-tourism and adventure destination gives it more resilience than most. The concern is less about whether tourists will still come and more about whether they will pay a great deal more to do so.
For now, Spirit’s planes are still in the air, and its website is still functional, and the company has said it will not comment on rumors.
