Special Charges and Credits (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	24 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011 debtors	Sep. 30, 2013 Third Quarter 2013 Secondary Offering [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Third Quarter Two Thousand Twelve Secondary Offering [Member]	Jan. 31, 2012 January 25, 2012 Secondary Offering [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 January 25, 2012 Secondary Offering [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 January 25, 2012 Secondary Offering [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Initial Public Offering	Dec. 31, 2011 Initial Public Offering	Sep. 30, 2012 Slot Transaction [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Slot Transaction [Member] aircraft_slot	Dec. 31, 2013 Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) Exit Plan [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Indigo Partners, Llc Professional Services Agreement Termination [Member] Initial Public Offering	Dec. 31, 2011 Repayments to Unaffiliated Debt Holders Initial Public Offering
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Number of permanent air carrier slots transferred												4
Proceeds from sale of slots	$ 0	$ 9,060,000	$ 0									$ 9,100,000
Business Exit Costs													100,000
Write-off of Accrued Business Exit Costs													200,000
Gain (loss) on slot sale	0	9,060,000	0								9,100,000
Shares sold by certain stockholders in secondary offering (in shares)				12,070,920	9,394,927	12,650,000
Payments of stock issuance costs				300,000	700,000		500,000	1,300,000
Common stock, shares held, by certain stockholders post secondary offering				0	0
Stock issuance cost reimbursements							600,000
Shares issued in public offering (in shares)									15,600,000
Incurred costs										$ 2,300,000				$ 1,800,000	$ 500,000
Number of unaffiliated debt holders paid with IPO proceeds (in debtors)			3