Get the latest tech news

Spirit Airlines CEO Got a $3.8M Bonus a Week Before Its Bankruptcy

There's a backlash against antitrust enforcement because enforcers blocked the JetBlue-Spirit merger. But this one's on the executives, who paid themselves lavishly a week before declaring bankruptcy.

“The airline industry,” wrote Boston-based Judge William Young, “is an oligopoly that has become more concentrated due to a series of mergers in the first decades of the twenty-first century, with a small group of firms in control of the vast majority of the market.” Eleven months later, on Monday, Spirit declared bankruptcy, negotiating a deal with its creditors to reduce its debt, wipe out its shareholders, and continue flying as an independent airline. This financial attack happened to Hawaiian, but the ability of large players to undercut ultra-low cost carriers with money losing strategies, cross-subsidized by higher tickets elsewhere, has hit a whole host of smaller airlines, including Spirit.

Get the Android app