An ambitious content creator seeking to buy the now-defunct Spirit Airlines with a crowdfunding campaign has generated over $337 million in pledged funds so far.
Hunter Peterson, known for flying the budget carrier “24 hours straight” last year, started the grassroots campaign on the same day that Spirit shut down last weekend. He said he hoped people would rally behind his long-shot idea.
The concept would allow people who pledge at least $45, the average price of a one-way Spirit ticket, to own Spirit Airlines 2.0. Peterson calls it the “Green Bay Model” on his website. The viral 32-year-old TikToker took inspiration from the Green Bay Packers football team, the only publicly owned franchise in the NFL.
Peterson has been documenting progress on the idea to his social media followers in the week since Spirit collapsed. In one video, he said a law firm that specializes in aviation mergers and acquisitions told him the plan was “doable.” He also spoke with someone who represents investors who could back his vision through a legal fund.
The plan is facing a time crunch, though. Spirit’s assets are being auctioned off soon.
“I can’t take any money from anyone, but I can take on angel investment from high-net-worth individuals,” Peterson said, urging billionaire Mark Cuban to DM him.
Each announcement video he posts plays the 1969 song “Spirit in the Sky” in the background.
Spirit had been struggling financially for some time, as demonstrated by its two Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings within a year. The low-cost airline was unable to recover from its court-blocked merger with JetBlue Airways in 2024. Frontier Airlines expressed interest in buying Spirit in 2022, but at the time, JetBlue overtook the competing bid. Now, Spirit no longer exists.
It remains to be seen if Peterson’s idea gains enough traction to surmount potential legal troubles. In a Friday update, he said a legal fund had been set up.
Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles-based content creator announced he had received support from Spirit’s 5,500-member flight attendant union.
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The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents over 55,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines, sent a letter to the Trump administration asking for help in the aftermath of Spirit’s mass layoffs. The Transportation and Labor Departments responded accordingly with federal resources.
Roughly 17,000 Spirit employees, including nearly 5,000 based in Florida, all lost their jobs at once. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, formerly the primary hub for Spirit flights, was impacted the most by Spirit’s closure.