Spirit Airlines Rejoins the New York Stock Exchange American

Updated: July 14, 2025, 1:02pm CDT

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Table of Contents

Spirit Gets Approval for the NYSE American
How Does Spirit Compare to Other Airlines After Bankruptcy?
Final Thoughts

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Who could’ve seen this coming? Last year, Spirit Airlines declared bankruptcy. And yet not even 12 months later, the struggling airline is back on the New York Stock Exchange.

So what happened?

Spirit Gets Approval for the NYSE American

After a potential merger with JetBlue went nowhere last year, Spirit filed for bankruptcy. That was in November 2024. Spirit exited bankruptcy in March 2025.

Having now racked up investments of $350 million, Spirit wants to get back to making money by focused on a different guest experience, like new fares (which sound a lot like almost every other airline fare tiers) with seat selection, bigger seats, premium drinks, carry-on bags, checked luggage, and free snacks.

Spirit Airlines fare classes — Image Credit: Spirit

Since it left banktruptcy, Spirit’s newly issued shares have been trading — in the over-the-counter market, rather than publicly.

Now that’s set to change. Spirit Airlines just got the nod to rejoin the New York Stock Exchange American, and the general public will be able to buy Spirit stocks starting on Apri 29, 2025.

Note that the NYSE American is not the same as the New York Stock Exchange, with the former geared toward small and midsize companies looking to grow. The NYSE American has looser requirements and restrictions than the NYSE.

How Does Spirit Compare to Other Airlines After Bankruptcy?

Spirit already knew it had to change up the old ways of doing business to move forward. That included its new fare classes. With the old Spirit, flyers paid for a bare-bones ticket and paid to add extras such as more luggage than the clothes on their backs. Now travelers can prepurchase all the amenities they’d like.

But how did that change up the Spirit works for you and me, the average passenger?

Let’s say you’re taking a round-trip flight from San Diego (SAN) to Las Vegas (LAS) in May 2025.

Spirit SAN LAS fare — Image Credit: Spirit Airlines

That clocks in at $52.60 as part of the basic Go fare, which includes no extras like carry-on or checked bags, seat selection, or food or beverages. One tier up, the Go Savvy fare, which comes with a carry-on, prices at $122.60 round-trip.

Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, has these possibilities on the same dates:

Southwest SAN LAS — Image Credit: Southwest

Southwest’s Basic ticket is more expensive than Spirit’s Go fare but comes with carry-on bags, snacks, drinks, and full-size tray tables.

Clearly, Spirit’s Go Savvy is the loser here, costing almost $50 more and providing way less.

Hot Tip:

Want squeeze even more value out of your ultra-low-cost-carrier ticket. Here’s how to avoid extra fees on low-cost carriers.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes it seems like Spirit Airlines is in the roller-coaster business rather than the flying business (although, yes, planes also have lots of literal ups and downs built into their model, but just let us have this one joke).

Getting back on the NYSE is certainly a step up rather than a downward stumble, but we won’t know for. while whether Spirit’s finally found its footing — or has just given up everything that used to make it special.