A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved Spirit Airlines’ SAVEQ.PK debt restructuring, clearing the budget airline to convert $795 million in debt to equity and emerge from bankruptcy as a private company.

Financially troubled Spirit Airlines says its reorganization plan has been approved by a federal bankruptcy court in New York, opening the way for its exit from Chapter 11 “in the coming

While the strong brand and loyal customer base make a full closure unlikely, the pool of investors who will be able to pull the struggling airline back on track is limited — and, now that Spirit has rejected a merger offer from Frontier ( FRON) for a second time, got even smaller.