When Spirit Airlines shut down overnight Saturday – all flights were cancelled, 17,000 employees were laid off, and ticketholders were told to do just that don’t come to the airport – People were surprised but also disappointed. Despite all its indignities, the soul was cheap. Then one of them got an idea.
Hunter Peterson, a voice actor who constantly complains, posted a tiktok Asking: What if 20% of American adults cut the price of spirit fare and that’s it. . . bought it? He called it “Spirit 2.0: Owned by the People”. In a matter of hours he built a website – a grueling, hourly job, by his own admission – and by Sunday, 36,000 “founder patrons” had pledged nearly $23 million, crashing their servers in the process.
None of this is real money. These are non-binding pledges. Also worth noting: The actual cost of acquiring and relaunching an airline runs into the billions. Peterson knows this. In a video posted earlier today, he winked and tried to recruit aviation lawyers, PR people and attorneys with one word: “Help?”
“I know what I don’t know, but you’re committed to this, so I’m committed to this,” he told his followers.
