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Scroll through GoFundMe and search “Spirit Airlines,” and the fundraisers start to blur together. Photos of flight attendants smiling in the airline’s familiar yellow and black uniforms fill the pages. Stories about rent due, essential bills to pay, and families to feed — all from workers recently laid off by the ultra-low-cost airline.
After the Dania Beach-based airline abruptly shut down over the weekend following the collapse of a $500 million rescue bailout proposal from the Trump administration, thousands of Spirit Airlines employees have been left scrambling for work. According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices received by Florida on May 4, more than 4,200 employees across Florida were laid off by Spirit, most of them in South Florida.
Dozens have since turned to GoFundMe to get back on their feet.
In one fundraiser, a former flight attendant named Julian Richardson describes suddenly finding himself unemployed after eight years with the airline. “So much of my identity and daily life has been tied to my work in the skies, and it’s hard to imagine not being part of that world,” he wrote in the fundraiser, which has exceeded its $3,500 goal with $3,585 raised as of Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m actively looking for new opportunities and hope to stay in the airline industry because it’s something I truly love,” Richardson continued. “In the meantime, I’m reaching out for support to help cover my living costs while I search for my next role.”
In another, Jorge Luis Camacho Roman describes being laid off on his birthday after five years as a Spirit flight attendant. In the fundraiser, which has raised $795 of its $3,500 goal as of Tuesday afternoon, he describes his passion for his aviation career, which he says was a “dream” he finally achieved at age 42.
“For the first time in my life, I have no idea how to face what comes next,” he wrote in the fundraiser. “Bills have to be paid, and financially, I have nothing.”
New Times has reached out to Richardson and Roman for comment.
On Saturday, the no-frills airline known for its bright yellow planes and deeply discounted fares announced it had officially gone out of business after 34 years. Although Spirit had gone bankrupt twice before, the company suggested its final blow came from rising oil prices driven by the war with Iran.
“We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our guests for many years to come,” the airline said in an announcement.
According to the WARN notices, 2,529 Spirit employees were laid off in Fort Lauderdale, 1,538 in Orlando, 551 in Dania Beach, and 181 in Miami.
WARN letters sent to employees on May 2 apologize for the short notice, saying that Spirit was “actively seeking capital to avoid these layoffs and closures and notice would have precluded the Company from obtaining the capital needed.” They recount steps including trying to get funding from lenders and other third parties and then from the U.S. government through “intense discussions.” It was only recently that Spirit learned additional funding would not be provided, leaving the company unable to continue operating.
“These conditions – including war in the middle east and a massive run up in fuel prices that will cost US airlines billions of dollars this year — were not foreseeable by the Company, and developed with a speed and severity that precluded the Company from giving earlier notice as we fought to save Spirit,” the letters said.
While a handful of employees on GoFundMe mentioned losing their benefits, it remains unclear whether workers immediately lost coverage when the company shuttered.
In a letter sent to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) — which represents 55,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines — called on the federal government to maintain Spirit flight attendants’ healthcare plans through the remainder of the 2026 plan year and to provide a temporary $600 weekly supplement to state unemployment benefits for six months.
A handful of resources appear to be available to recently laid-off Spirit employees as they navigate their next steps.
FloridaCommerce, in partnership with CareerSource Broward, is hosting rapid-response events in Orlando for displaced Spirit employees. CareerSource Broward also held a similar event this afternoon at its South Center in Hollywood.
The U.S. Department of Labor has also launched a webpage listing additional resources for workers affected by Spirit’s closure, including a dedicated helpline for re-employment services and various rapid-response services.
