Attention, all travelers: You may have heard rumors of Spirit Airlines filing for bankruptcy a few months ago and filing again this past August. What does that mean practically for you? In short, it means no more cheap Spirit Airlines flights for you from the Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport—Spirit Airlines will be ending service there on October 3.

The carrier just announced that they will be cutting service from several cities, and sadly, Birmingham is one of them. They began servicing Birmingham only a few months ago, in October 2024, with several direct flights across the country, including to cities in Florida, New Jersey, and Michigan. 

“Word on the street” is that if you’ve booked a flight out of BHM that’s scheduled for after October 3, you’ll receive an email about how to snag your refund. If you want more information, 

Does this mean Spirit is stopping all of its flights?

“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” says Dave Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer in a Spirit Airlines press release. “As we move forward, Guests can continue to rely on Spirit to provide high-value travel options and connect them with the people and places that matter most.” In essence, Spirit will continue to exist—just not out of BHM. 

It’s worth noting that when they filed their Chapter 11 filing in November, the company already had lost over $2.5 billion since the early 2020. So I’d certainly be cautious, even though they say they’re going to maintain operations.

Competitors stepping up

Spirit may be going down, but competitors including Frontier Airlines and United Airlines have announced new routes that will begin in the coming months. Frontier just announced 22 new routes launching in late 2025 across the United States, and United has 15 new destinations starting up in January 2026. While the new routes aren’t at the BHM airport, there are seven from ATL, just a Groome shuttle away.

For more information on how Spirit is restructuring, visit their website or their “Contact Us” page.