#001 Who Killed Spirit Airlines?

The first major US airline liquidation in 20 years happened overnight on May 2, 2026. Was it the Iran war? Or was Spirit already dying?A markets autopsy on the collapse of Spirit Airlines — 34 years, 17,000 jobs, ~5% of US flights, gone in 10 weeks.We trace the timeline from the Feb 28 US-Israel strikes on Iran through the doubling of jet fuel, the $500M Trump rescue that collapsed on Friday night, and the AVA's $2.5B follow-up ask now stacked against four political lobbies.Then the part nobody's talking about: this isn't a trade story. It's a capacity story. ULCCs were the marginal price-setter on hundreds of US routes — and once that capacity is gone, it doesn't come back quickly. Cirium data already shows fares rising 23% on routes Spirit exits. That's likely a floor, not a peak.Episode 1 of Markets Brief.Tickers covered: $SAVE $JBLU $ULCC $ALGT $UAL $DAL $AALYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj80kWEtZ2sWebsite: https://www.activeflights.com/ · Follow on X: @activeflights · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/activeflights/