Google buys crashed airline Spirit’s data at auction, because AI

Google has acquired the data of bankrupt US airline Spirit at auction for $10 million. Spirit experienced financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic and permanently ceased operations in May 2026. As part of its liquidation process, the low-cost carrier auctioned off various assets, including a vast collection of deidentified data.

Google successfully bid for this data and secured it, which includes over 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams items, 17 million OneDrive files, 20.5 million SharePoint items, and more.

The acquired data also contains customer service calls and chat records, 600,000 ServiceNow tickets, 13.7 million active email addresses from Oracle's Responsys marketing application, and details of 11 million in-flight Wi-Fi service purchases. Additionally, operational data is included, such as over 763,000 flight records, five million crew pairings, more than 1.2 million fuel slips, and records of 787,452 parts purchases.

Google reportedly purchased the data to enhance its AI services. This acquisition may provide Google with valuable tools for creating aviation operations models or leveraging financial records for other AI applications. While there are concerns about potential privacy issues, court documents state that the data was deidentified before being put up for sale, and Google has promised to remove any identifiable personal information found.