Dave Davis

Each time, he picks up his bound copy of Title XI, the congressional statute that governs American bankruptcy cases, and brandishes it before his webcam." Then the judge comes to the last case on the morning schedule.

On the monitors, a lawyer named Marshall Huebner appears from the offices of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell, the elite New York firm where he's a partner.

Huebner is standing at a lectern in front of a wood-paneled wall.

It's a kind of stage set to give the impression that he's here in the courtroom.

The last time an airline of Spirit's size was completely dissolved was Pan Am, 35 years ago.

A lot has changed since then, in airline operations and the world at large.

We had been preparing for this possibility for several months prior to the actual shutdown, just in case it actually did happen, says Dave Davis, Spirit's chief executive officer.

Davis hadn't been in the job long before the airline's collapse.