Spirit Aviation Holdings could make the decision to liquidate its assets as soon as this week, according to reporting by Bloomberg News.
If that happens, officials at Palmer Airport in Unity say they are prepared.
Airport officials had already begun discussions with other national carriers following Spirit’s announcement that it would discontinue its popular service to Orlando, Fla., in mid-April.
The Bloomberg report said the ballooning cost of jet fuel in the wake of the U.S. and Israeli war again Iran, and the maneuvering over the Strait of Hormuz is putting added pressure on Spirit, which declared bankruptcy twice in 2025.
Palmer Airport Executive Director Gabe Monzo said airport officials started planning for this sort of eventuality last fall.
“Our consultant, Volaire, specializes in this type of situation,” Monzo said. “So far they’ve only sent us headlines and we’ve been chatting back and forth. But all the processes we’ve undergone since last September have been with the idea that this could happen.”
In March, Monzo said negotiations “have progressed significantly” with one or more commercial airlines to begin flying routes out of Palmer Airport. Spirit is currently its only carrier.
Air traffic through the Unity airport in 2025 fell to its lowest level since 2011. According to figures released in February, 119,379 passengers went through the gates in 2025 to travel to three destinations. It was the fewest number of passengers in and out of the airport since Spirit initiated commercial service there in 2011.
Last year, the airline flew to three destinations from Westmoreland County: Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida and Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Fort Lauderdale route ended last fall, and service to Orlando was suspended this week but will return in September.
The airport is also wrapping up a 32,000-square-foot expansion adding leased commercial space, extending common areas and adding more paid parking.
Monzo has declined to identify the airlines that airport officials are talking with, but said the airport would be moving forward, Spirit liquidation or no.
“Our contacts have been made and we’re well on our way to position ourselves in the industry with whatever we have to do,” Monzo said. “This is nothing we weren’t prepared for, but right now we’re in sort of a ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ situation.”
Spirit spokesman Tommy Fletcher said the company does not comment “on market rumors and speculation.”
Citibank N.A., the administrative agent for Spirit Aviation Holdings’ $275 million line of credit, filed an objection to Spirit’s financial disclosure statement on April 10 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that confirming the current reorganization plan under Chapter 11 would lead to almost immediate liquidation, due to secured lenders having the right to foreclose on engines and spare parts.
Creditors have a lien against certain engines, spare parts and landing slots at LaGuardia Airport in New York, according to the filing.