Planet Money

It’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to muse about “buying” them. Many low cost airlines are struggling due to a canny and calculated set of strategies from bigger airlines that we can think of as ‘revenge of the legacy carriers.’ Today on the show, we go back in time to when Spirit was riding high and pressuring the whole industry to cut costs. We talk with then-CEO Ben Baldanza about his radical vision for cheap air travel and then travel to the present day to hear how legacy airlines beat Spirit and other budget airlines at their own game. Plus, what happens to us passengers if Spirit does go away. Newsletters:Greg’s weekly deep diveThe brand new Indicator link roundupRelated Episodes: People Express and how flying got so bad (or did it?)Book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life is in stores now. Support: Planet Money+Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Find us o