Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis broke his silence after shutting down operations following 30 years.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Davis confessed that the closure of the airlines came unexpectedly and they did not wanted to end things this way.
In an interview with WSJ, he said, “We didn’t intentionally sell any tickets thinking we weren’t going to be here. We thought we were going to get the liquidity we needed.”
Davis also apologized to passengers whose flights are being canceled.
This came after the airlines on Saturday, May 2, announced that it will immediately shut down operations after failing to reach a deal for a government bailout, citing rising oil prices as a major factor.
As per the statement the airline’s parent company Spirit Aviation Holdings started “an orderly wind-down of operations” and cancellation of all flights, urging travelers who purchased tickets through Spirit “not [to] go to the airport.”
Customers were advised that they will receive refunds but would not receive help to book new flights through other airlines.
Spirit president Davis explained, “The sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure.”
He called the shutdown “tremendously disappointing” saying it was not the outcome that “any of us wanted.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Saturday that airlines were capping their ticket prices for Spirit customers seeking to rebook their cancelled flights.
Spirit will automatically process refunds to travelers who paid with a credit or debit card.
