Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights | Planet Money
April 29, 2026
1,559
20
1
1.35%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Nprs Planet Money Episodes Around April 29, 2026
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
29:13Now PlayingSpirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights | Planet Money
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelIt’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to muse about “buying” them. Many low cost airlines are struggling due to a canny and calculated set of strategies from bigger airlines that we can think of as ‘revenge of the legacy carriers.’
Today on the show, we go back in time to when Spirit was riding high and pressuring the whole industry to cut costs. We talk with then-CEO Ben Baldanza about his radical vision for cheap air travel and then travel to the present day to hear how legacy airlines beat Spirit and other budget airlines at their own game. Plus, what happens to us passengers if Spirit does go away.
Newsletters:
Greg’s weekly deep dive ()
The brand new Indicator link roundup ()
Related Episodes:
People Express and how flying got so bad (or did it?) ()
BookPlanet MoneyA Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life () is in stores now.
SupportPlanet Money+ ()
Listen freeApple Podcasts () , Spotify () , the NPR app () or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find us on Socials:
Facebook () / Instagram () / TikTok ()
This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Greg Rosalsky, Jacob Goldstein, Zoe Chace and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Alex Goldmark. It was fact-checked by Vito Emanuel and engineered by Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
See pcm.adswizz.com () for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy ()
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.