Bare Fare

For years, Spirit Airlines appeared to have solved one of aviation’s hardest problems. It offered fares millions of people could afford while producing profits that impressed Wall Street. Passengers complained about the fees, the cramped cabins, and the service. Rival airlines paid attention for another reason. When Spirit entered one of their expensive routes, fares often fell.

Then the airline disappeared.

How did one of America's most influential low-cost carriers move from being an industry disruptor to going bankrupt? Was its business model to blame, or were the decisions taken in order to promote growth the cause, or might it have been due to events that no management team could have foreseen?

Bare Fare looks beyond the usual jokes and angry passenger stories to reveal how Spirit actually worked. It follows the people who built the airline, explains the economics behind its remarkably low fares, and shows why the very discipline that made the company successful left so little room when conditions turned against it.

By using corporate filings, court records, government data, reports from the time, and personal accounts, Bare Fare brings together the story of Spirit's rise and fall as a vivid account of ambition, innovation, risk, and survival.

For anyone who is interested in business history, aviation, corporate strategy, or the kinds of decisions that cause some companies to survive while others fail, Bare Fare provides a compelling description of the airline that altered the price of air travel and found out what the real cost of offering the lowest fare actually is.