Rachel Abrams

That's it for The Daily.

I'm Rachel Abrams.

See you tomorrow.

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.

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 an ultra-low-cost approach.

So today, I talk to my colleague Neeraj Chokshi about the so-called spirit effect on air travel, why it unraveled, and whether the problems that doomed spirit could spread to other airlines.

And my colleague Lindsay Garrison talks to a spirit flight attendant about what spirit represented.

It's Thursday, May 7th.

Neeraj, welcome to The Daily.

So, Neeraj, as you know, Spirit Airlines, they went under over the weekend.

And this comes after the White House had tried to save the airline.

They did not save the airline.

And what was so interesting was that this airline, that had basically been a punchline for years...

sparked so much grief.

There was this outpouring of people talking about how sad they were that it was going away.

Our colleague Lindsay Garrison talked to a flight attendant who said how much the airline meant to her and how much she saw that the airline meant to other people.

And so I want to start this conversation with you explaining to us why the death of this airline has struck such a chord with people.

I wonder if you could rewind the clock a little bit and tell us about where this airline came from.

Like, what was its origin story?

And how did it end up symbolizing low-cost air travel in the United States?