Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett took a swipe at Spirit Airlines, which ceased operations on Saturday, for citing sky-high fuel prices driven by President Donald Trump’s war on Iran as a reason for its closure.
Hassett's Response on Face the Nation
“Are other industries also at risk of collapse, or other major companies, due to this energy shock?” CBS host Margaret Brennan asked Hassett on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.”
“Well, don’t forget, the Spirit Airlines was Chapter 11 twice because they basically didn’t have a business model that was working,” he replied.
Hassett also said that other airlines were still operating, despite the soaring costs of jet fuel.
“[The other airlines] thought ahead way more than the management of Spirit [to] hedge their jet fuel purchases and so on so that energy, short-term energy shocks, don’t have a big effect on their business,” Hassett said. “Certainly, it’ll affect profits for the airlines for a quarter or so, but they’re very, very healthy right now.”
Rescue Plan and Biden Administration Criticism
When Brennan asked about the 11th-hour, $500 million rescue plan the Trump administration had previously discussed for Spirit Airlines, Hassett took a jab at the Biden administration.
“We were aware that, because the merger between JetBlue and Spirit was canceled unwisely by the Biden administration, that Spirit, sadly, was on the ropes. When we looked at their books, that basically, the creditors were going to liquidate them and try to sell their assets so that they could get some of the money back that they had lent them,” he said.
Transportation Secretary's Comments
On Saturday, hours before the airline shuttered, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at Newark Liberty International Airport that “Spirit was in dire straits long before the war with Iran.”
Duffy added that Trump “was like a dog on a bone trying to figure out a way to keep Spirit afloat” and prevent its shutdown, but he couldn’t pull it off.
Watch Hassett’s “Face the Nation” appearance below. Skip to the 8:03 mark to hear his comments.
