(NewsNation) — A campaign to help save Spirit Airlines after it shut down all its operations has raised more than $300 million so far.
A TikTok creator named Hunter Peterson posted a video to the social media platform proposing a plan to purchase Spirit through crowdfunding, according to USA Today.
“This is a genius idea: We nationalize Spirit Airlines, owned by the people. Airlines gone. We make a new airline,” Peterson said in the video. He launched letsbuyspiritair.com, which as of Saturday afternoon has raised exactly $337 million, with an average pledge of $907.
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Peterson said in a later video after launching the website that the effort started as a joke, but that it’s also “rapidly going out of control in the best possible way.”
The model Peterson proposed is based off the Green Bay Packers business model, the NFL football team that is publicly owned.
On Saturday, May 2, Spirit Airlines ceased operations and canceled all of its flights after 34 years. The airline is already going through the liquidation process.
