Gas prices surge, Spirit Airlines shuts down as economic leaders meet

The pressure points in the economy are lining up at once: gasoline is surging, a major budget airline has collapsed, and Washington’s top economic voices are being asked to explain what comes next for households already facing higher costs.

AAA put the national average at $4.446 a gallon on May 3, 2026. That followed a 27-cent jump in one week and a price that was $1.12 higher than the same time last year. CBS News has tied the jump to the Iran war, which pushed Brent crude to $105 a barrel on April 25 and has sent fuel costs back above $4 a gallon, a threshold that quickly ripples through commuting, delivery costs and summer travel budgets.

The strain widened when Spirit Airlines said early Saturday, May 2, that it was ceasing operations after failing to secure a $500 million federal bailout. The carrier said it had begun an orderly wind-down effective immediately and canceled all flights. For travelers, the fallout is likely to mean fewer cheap seats and higher fares as the low-cost carrier disappears from routes where it once kept prices in check.

That is not just a theory. A CBS News analysis of Cirium data found that when Spirit exited a route, average round-trip fares rose 23%, or about $60, while passenger volume fell 20%. In practical terms, that means one more pressure point on households already choosing between paying more at the pump and paying more to fly.

Those concerns are now sitting at the center of the national conversation as Margaret Brennan’s guest list brings together White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Minneapolis Fed president and chief executive Neel Kashkari and Sen. Raphael Warnock. Hassett’s disclosure lists his appointment as director of the council on January 20, 2025. Kashkari has led the Minneapolis Fed since January 1, 2016, and voted against the Federal Reserve’s April 29 policy decision because he supported keeping rates steady but not an easing bias.

Warnock adds a different political lens to the debate. The Georgia Democrat, raised in public housing in Savannah and one of 12 children, has served since 2005 as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He won election to the Senate in the January 5, 2021 runoff and took office on January 20, 2021.

A CBS News poll in March found that the Iran war and rising gas prices were already fueling economic concerns. With fuel costs climbing and airfares poised to tighten, those anxieties are likely to stay front and center.