United Airlines has added new flights to 15 cities after Spirit Airlines entered bankruptcy for the second time in a year.
The major U.S. carrier added two new routes between Newark Liberty International Airport, which serves the New York City area, and Columbia, South Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
One additional daily round-trip flight has been added through already established routes. Now, United Airlines passengers flying out of Houston will be offered another round-trip to Orlando, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore or Miami.
An additional round-trip flight between Chicago and Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, or Las Vegas has also been offered, as well as a round-trip flight from Newark to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Passengers flying out of Los Angeles will also be offered another round-trip to Las Vegas.
United will also have three new weekly flights between Houston and Guatemala City, Guatemala and San Salvador, El Salvador, as well as one new weekly flight between Houston and San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Extra flights between Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles will also be added, and United will fly larger planes between Chicago and New York’s LaGuardia Airport for passengers outside its hubs to connect to the new flights.
The new flights will start on January 6 and tickets will go on sale from Thursday.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of Global Network Planning and Alliances, said in a statement Thursday.
Last week, Spirit filed for bankruptcy again after attempting to rebrand from a budget option to a premium carrier. The airline had previously declared bankruptcy last November after failed mergers, growing debt and years of operating at a loss. In 2024, Spirit reported a $1.2 billion net loss.
“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis said on Friday.
Spirit has canceled flights to 11 U.S. cities, including Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, Reuters reported. The airline was expected to start service to Macon, Georgia, in mid-October, but it has since canceled those plans.
The carrier has maintained it will remain in business “for many years to come,” in a clap back to United.
“While we appreciate the obsession certain airline executives have with us, we’re focused on competing and running a great operation,” Duncan Dee, Spirit’s senior vice president of corporate communications, told Reuters.
“Suggesting anything else is wishful thinking on the part of a high-cost airline looking to eliminate a low-cost competitor so they can fulfill their ultimate goal of charging American travelers the highest fares possible to visit the people and places they love.”
