TikToker proposes 'let’s buy Spirit Airlines.' Thousands want in
A TikTok campaign to buy and revive Spirit Airlines, hours after the company suspended operations, has raised more than $88 million.
Over the weekend, Hunter Peterson, a content creator and voice actor, posted a TikTok video that now boasts more than 4.6 million views, proposing a plan to purchase Spirit Airlines through crowdfunding.
"This is a genius idea: We nationalize Spirit Airlines," Peterson said in the video. "Owned by the people. Airlines gone. We make a new airline."
Spirit Airlines announced on May 2 it was ceasing operations, citing years of financial hardships made difficult by rising fuel prices. All Spirit flights are canceled and the airline's customer service is no longer available.
"Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted," Spirit President and CEO Dave Davis said in a statement.
Thousands support crowdfunding plan to revive Spirit
Not three hours after posting his first video, Peterson launched what is now letsbuyspiritair.com, which allows interested patrons to pledge a share into the proposed ownership of Spirit Airlines. A non-binding pledge does not entail a collection of money but rather an expressed interest.
And it appears quite a few people are excited.
As of May 4, around 124,700 individuals expressed interest in the buyback plan, with more than $88 million pledged, according to figures presented on letsbuyspiritair.com. The average pledge? $667.
"This started as a joke and this is rapidly going out of control in the best possible way," Peterson said in a TikTok video after the website was posted.
In addition to the website, Peterson created an Instagram account, Spirit Airlines 2.0. As of May 4, the account had 163,000 followers.
USA TODAY reached out to Peterson and Spirit's former legal counsel.
Crowdfunding website crashes
Peterson's TikTok videos and website garnered so much attention, the latter crashed, not long after its creation. As of May 4, pledges are currently suspended on letsbuyspiritair.com, as the website's infrastructure is upgraded, per a notice on the website.
Peterson asks for help, across the board
In a TikTok video posted on May 3, Peterson said he was looking to connect with developers to upgrade the pledge website, public relations professionals to manage news outreach, lawyers who have experience in aviation and airline executives who can provide much needed details.
"I'm not talking to anyone on TV or anything like that," Peterson said in another TikTok video posted on May 3. "If you want to hear from me, it will be on social, until I talk to my lawyers."
Hunter Peterson and Spirit have history
Peterson and Spirit Airlines go way back (or at least a year).
In 2025, the content creator flew on Spirit Airlines airplanes for 24 straight hours in order to get a better understanding of the low-cost carrier. In a YouTube video with about 93,000 views, Peterson visited five of Spirit's busiest airports, only counting the amount of time he was on a plane as part of the project.
Could the campaign succeed?
It's very unlikely Peterson's plan will succeed, according to an expert.
Spirit Airlines is already going through the formal liquidation process and its assets will be allocated by the bankruptcy court to help settle its outstanding debts.
Robert W. Mann Jr., former airline executive officer and current president of R.W. Mann and Co., an independent airline consultancy, told USA TODAY Spirit would have been rescued already if it had viable business prospects for the future. Still, he said, the planes and other parts of the airline will likely have new chapters at other carriers.
"Spirit will come back in other forms: The planes will come back painted some other way, some of the employees will come back in other uniforms, some of the slots will be operated by other carriers who absorb the use or lose requirements, some of the ground facilities will come back with new equipment, airports will have to put up new signage," he said. "But other than that, I don’t see it coming back."
Contributing: Eve Chen, USA TODAY
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].