Major United States airlines walked away from a recent industry event with one very clear message. None of them wants to buy used airplanes from Spirit Airlines. Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora shared this major update in a new research note after hosting the bank’s annual Industrials, Transportation, and Airlines Key Leaders Conference. Executives from across the aviation sector gathered to discuss their future business plans, and buying Spirit’s bright yellow jets simply did not make the list.
The financial conference brought together the absolute biggest players in the sky. Leaders from legacy carriers like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines sat down in the same room with budget companies like Allegiant Travel, JetBlue Airways, and Frontier Group. Regional operators Republic Airways and SkyWest also joined the talks. Despite their different business models and fleet needs, every single airline executive agreed that taking over Spirit’s current fleet makes terrible financial sense right now.
The main problem comes down to the aircraft’s interior. Spirit packs its cabins with hard, bare-bones seats to maximize passenger counts and keep basic ticket prices low. Rival airlines told analysts that ripping out these tight layouts takes way too much time and effort. Mechanics need 6 to 9 months just to change out the basic seats. If an airline wants to do a full cabin refresh to add first-class sections, new carpets, and better overhead bins, the timeline stretches much longer. A single passenger jet costs tens of millions of dollars, and no company wants a $50 million piece of equipment sitting empty in a repair hangar for an entire year.
While the physical airplanes received zero interest, Spirit’s parking spaces at major airports sparked massive excitement. Airlines eagerly told Bank of America that they really want to take over Spirit’s airport gates and landing slots. However, the airlines cannot just buy these prime spots directly from Spirit. Local airport authorities and government regulators control exactly who gets to take off and land at specific times.
The landing slots in New York airports created the most buzz at the conference. If Spirit gives up its flying rights in New York, local authorities will take those slots back into their own hands. After taking them back, the regulators will hand them out to other aviation companies. Historically, regulators have preferred to allocate these open slots to other leisure and budget carriers to keep local competition high. Companies like Frontier or Allegiant might score big if New York officials redistribute Spirit’s valuable airport real estate.
Beyond the Spirit Airlines drama, the conference revealed very good news for the broader travel industry. Every single airline at the event reported incredibly strong passenger demand. People keep buying tickets, and they happily pay higher prices. When prices go up, customer demand usually drops. Economists call this elasticity. Right now, airline executives see zero elasticity in the market. Travelers just keep swiping their credit cards regardless of the final airfare cost.
Delta Air Lines executives painted a very clear picture of this ongoing spending boom. They reported that cash sales remain robust across all cabin classes on their planes. Whether customers book cheap economy seats in the back or expensive first-class suites in the front, the money keeps flowing in. Delta also noted that people book flights across all advance-purchase windows. Some travelers buy tickets 6 months early, while others pay a massive premium for last-minute business trips. The airline sees these strong spending trends across all geographical regions.
Bank of America backed up these optimistic executive claims with its own internal banking numbers. The bank actively tracks how much money retail customers spend on their credit cards. According to Didora, credit card spending on airline tickets recently accelerated again. The data shows that airline card spending jumped by roughly 14% to 16%, hitting the mid-teens for the current quarter. These hard data prove that the executives tell the truth about consumer demand.
Even with full planes and eager travelers, airlines plan to keep a tight leash on their flight schedules. Carriers told analysts that domestic flight capacity will stay completely flat from May through August. Airlines refuse to flood the summer market with extra flights. By holding back the total number of available seats, companies ensure that their planes remain full and ticket prices remain high during the busy summer vacation season.
Growth will finally return to the schedules once the summer ends. Airlines expect to ramp up their flight capacity starting in September and continuing through the end of the year. However, executives warned that the second half of 2026 comes with a major condition. Everything depends heavily on the global price of jet fuel. Fuel is one of the largest daily expenses for any aviation company, and the global oil market changes every day.
If jet fuel prices remain high for longer, airlines will slash their schedules. Executives made it clear that they will reduce capacity quickly if energy costs eat into their profit margins. The industry learned hard lessons over the past decade, and modern airlines prefer to ground planes rather than fly them at a financial loss. For now, the industry looks remarkably strong, passengers keep spending their money, and everyone waits to see who will grab Spirit’s valuable airport gates.
