It's not a viable path to anywhere. The company liquidates what few assets it has for cash that it then burns through. The debt increases while the amount of assets with which to generate non-existent profit declines. The government has made its position clear. It desires a concentrated industry of a few titans - the existence of airlines like Spirit, Frontier, JetBlue etc are undesirable because they keep profits low. Consumer welfare isn't the concern, although it is used as the fig leaf. The critical issue is the government wants companies big enough to not need constant bail-outs/bail-ins.

Accept reality and get hired yesterday to a Big 3 legacy. Southwest isn't even safe - look at what is happening over there. If Southwest was valued by the government, they wouldn't have allowed it to get raided by private equity. That JetBlue is going to get the Icahn treatment, and Spirit is now owned by bondholders looking to liquidate, is all gravy to the government.

Guys at Spirit talking about negotiating positions for a new contract are nuts. There will not be a contract because there will not be a company. Extract as much value as you can before the company shuts down in a year or two.