NEW YORK — Shares of Spirit Airlines fell on Wednesday after the low-cost carrier said it would not report quarterly financial results in time as it continues talks with bondholders to restructure its debt.

Spirit said negotiations were moving toward a deal that would protect creditors and customers. However, the company said that existing shares would be expected to be written off if such an agreement was reached.

The stock was down 58% in Wednesday afternoon trading.

The low-cost airline is trying to recover from the pandemic-induced slump in travel. A federal judge blocked an attempt to sell the airline to JetBlue after the Justice Department sued on antitrust grounds.

Spirit said after the market closed on Tuesday that it had notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would be late filing its third-quarter financial report as it continued negotiations with holders of debt due in 2025 and 2026.

Spirit said if it could reach a deal it would undergo a “legal restructuring” that would protect creditors, employees, customers and companies doing business with the airline, but was “expected to result in the cancellation of the company’s existing equity capital.” “

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The Florida-based airline also said it was “exploring strategic alternatives”; This is often a euphemism for a sale, merger, or restructuring. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported late Tuesday that the airline was discussing the terms of a possible bankruptcy filing with bondholders after merger talks with Frontier Airlines collapsed.

The company also provided negative information about its third quarter performance. Spirit said its operating margin would be 12 percentage points worse than last year’s third quarter, a negative 15% in that period. Compared to the previous year, revenues will decrease and expenses will increase.

TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald said Spirit’s announcement creates the risk that customers will book with other airlines instead, putting further pressure on Spirit’s liquidity.

Spirit, the nation’s largest budget airline, has lost more than $2.5 billion since the beginning of 2020 and faces debt payments exceeding $1 billion.

People still fly Spirit Airlines. They just don’t pay that much.

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In the first six months of the year, Spirit passengers flew 2% more than in the same period last year. But they were paying 10% less per mile, and revenue from per-mile fees was down almost 20%, contributing to Spirit’s red ink.

This is not a new trend. Spirit failed to return to profitability when the coronavirus pandemic eased and travel picked up. There are various reasons behind the collapse.

The cost of the soul, especially labor, has increased. The largest U.S. airlines have captured some of Spirit’s budget-conscious customers by offering simple, own-branded tickets. And fares for U.S. leisure travel, Spirit’s core business, have fallen for much of this year due to a glut of seats on domestic flights.

Peter McNally, an analyst at investment research firm Third Bridge, said Spirit is using debt to expand aggressively to increase market share as it emerges from the pandemic. However, as other airlines added flights, costs increased and pricing power suffered, he said.

Frontier Airlines attempted to merge with Spirit in 2022 but was outbid by JetBlue. The Justice Department sued JetBlue and Spirit, saying the merger would raise prices for Spirit customers dependent on low fares, and a federal judge agreed in January. JetBlue and Spirit abandoned their merger two months later.

Spirit and Frontier, headquartered in Denver, declined to comment on possible merger discussions. Savanthi Syth, airline analyst for Raymond James, said she still believes a merger of the two is likely after Spirit restructures to cut costs.

Airline bankruptcies were common in the United States in the 1990s and 2000s, when airlines struggled with fierce competition, high labor costs, and spikes in jet fuel prices. While some airlines survived the turbulence and merger wave, Pan Am, TWA, Northwest, Continental and US Airways disappeared.

The last bankruptcy of a major US carrier ended with American Airlines exiting Chapter 11 protection and simultaneously merging with US Airways in December 2013.