When Spirit Airlines shut down over the weekend, it brought an end to a company that had revolutionized air travel in the United States with its ultra-low-cost approach. Niraj Chokshi, who covers aviation for The New York Times, discussed why the company unraveled and whether those problems could spread to other airlines. And Lynsea Garrison, a producer for “The Daily,” spoke to a Spirit flight attendant about what the airline represented. Guest: • Niraj Chokshi (https://www.nytimes.com/by/niraj-chokshi) , a reporter at The New York Times covering aviation, rail and other transportation industries. • Colleen Burns, a flight attendant for Spirit Airlines. Background reading:  • Spirit Airlines shuts down (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/02/business/spirit-airlines-shutdown.html) after years of struggle. • Here’s how the demise of Spirit could help other airlines (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/business/spirit-airlines-shutdown-fares-industry-impact.html) . Photo: Tom Brenner for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.