CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A major airline has shut down, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Channel 2’s Cory James is live at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where he’s been talking with employees and travelers affected now that Spirit Airlines says all flights have been canceled.
The discount airline blames rising fuel costs as one of the factors in the decision to shutter.
A lot of passengers had to find other ways to get to their destinations Saturday.
Serenity McClure woke up in disbelief Saturday morning after learning spirit airlines would not be taking her back home to Florida Sunday because the company is shutting down.
“I would have never thought something like that would happen. This is my second time on Spirit, and it never happened like that,” she said.
Around 2:46 a.m., Vanessa Titre got the same notification via email.
It said, “We regret to inform you that all Spirit flights have been cancelled, effective immediately.”
It forced her and her seven friends to race to the airport to book another flight.
“Three-hundred dollars, $600 depending on which airline you choose. We traveled with eight people so imagine that ticket,” Titre said.
“I haven’t processed it all yet,” said
Freddy Peterson is taking a big hit, too. He said he spent the last 10 years as a flight attendant for spirit airlines.
Peterson said he woke up at 3 a.m. and went to the company’s website after hearing rumors it was going out of business.
“I’ll probably do the boo hoo crying and all that stuff once I get in my car,” Peterson said.
“I’m 60 now and all, most at retirement, but if I have to go to McDonald or Burger King to make sure my mortgage, car note taken care of, that is what I’ll do,” he said.
In a statement, Spirit Airlines said in part: “The sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
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