Google's $10m Spirit Airlines Data Purchase: Springshot Objects
Google won a $10 million auction for Spirit Airlines data. Springshot, an aviation software company operating at over 475 airports, claims the archive includes records generated by its platform and has asked the bankruptcy court to exclude these materials before any transfer.
September 18, 2026 - 7:52 am
Credit: Springshot
A proposed sale of Spirit Airlines data to Google has sparked an objection from Springshot, arguing that some assets may not belong to Spirit for sale.
Google won the bankruptcy auction with a $10 million bid for a vast archive containing:
- Roughly 100 million emails
- 500 million Microsoft Teams messages and collaboration records
- Spreadsheets, code, and operational data
Springshot suggests this collection might also contain proprietary records generated by its software. CEO Doug Kreuzkamp believes these could aid a competitor in building AI for airport operations.
Springshot has filed an objection in the bankruptcy proceedings, requesting a court-run forensic review to separate its intellectual property from Spirit’s business records before any transfer.
The dispute raises a broader question: when software turns customer activity into datasets useful for training AI, who owns the result?
Springshot claims it has developed its platform over 15 years and deployed it across more than 475 global airports. Its software connects frontline workers, operational systems, and real-time information to coordinate tasks such as aircraft preparation and ground services organization.
This work generates detailed records of:
- Conditions faced by teams
- Decisions made
- Tasks completed
- Results achieved
Kreuzkamp argues that these records are more than a digitized account of Spirit’s business, claiming Springshot generates them by combining workers' interactions with its software, system signals, and operational requirements into structured, flight-specific datasets.
“If the dataset includes Springshot’s proprietary operational data and trade secrets, it could provide a shortcut to developing AI capable of orchestrating airport operations,” Kreuzkamp stated in written answers.
Google's Stance
Google has publicly acknowledged its interest in the data for its products and AI models, assuring that a third party will remove personally identifiable information before delivery, with no personal information from the dataset flowing to Google.
Springshot’s objection focuses on authorization: who can transfer ownership of these materials in the first place?
Kreuzkamp distinguishes between information Spirit supplied and information Springshot’s software generated. While Spirit's emails, chats, and financial spreadsheets are theirs, Springshot argues it owns the proprietary outputs its platform generates.
The specific materials in question remain disputed, with Springshot seeking court clarification to exclude its intellectual property from the sale and prevent transfers or uses that violate its software agreement.