Catch the spirit — and maybe a few left hooks.

The latest airline disaster erupted on terra firma Monday night when three knuckleheads from Long Island sparked a melee over Spirit Airlines’ flight cancellations in Florida.

Desmond Waul, 22, of Seldon, and Brentwood residents Janice Waul, 24, and Davante Garrett, 22, threatened to fight Spirit employees at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which was packed with stranded passengers after Spirit nixed nine flights Monday due to an ongoing contract dispute with its pilots, according to authorities.

The Spirit terminal was heaving with about 500 travelers — who grew “increasingly aggressive to the point of near violence toward airline employees” as the trio screamed at workers around 10:30 p.m., according to arrest reports released Tuesday by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

“The atmosphere which [Desmond] Waul and co-defendants caused was one that resembled the start of a riot,” the reports say.

The three resisted arrest and threatened officers who tried handcuffing them — and the brief fracas was caught on cellphone video.

Waul, Waul and Garrett are charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and trespassing, and are being held at the Broward County Jail on $10,000 bond.

It wasn’t immediately clear who their attorneys were and family members couldn’t be reached.

“It wasn’t like a riot,” explained airport spokesman Greg Meyer. “It was just three individuals who took it to the next level and were disrespectful to ticket-counter agents.”

Spirit said it was “shocked and saddened” by the airport brawl.

In a federal lawsuit filed Monday, the airline accused its pilots of engaging in “a pervasive illegal work slowdown” over the past week that led to about 300 flight cancellations and inconvenienced more than 20,000 passengers.

The dispute caused about $8.5 million in lost revenue across four airports, the lawsuit says: Fort Lauderdale, Chicago-O’Hare, Detroit and Las Vegas.

The pilots are playing hardball “in order to bring pressure on Spirit during current negotiations for an amended collective bargaining agreement,” the suit claims.

A judge granted Spirit a temporary restraining order Tuesday, ordering its pilots to immediately return to working their normal schedule.

The pilots union, Air Line Pilots Association, International, denied that a slowdown existed.

“Spirit pilots are committed to helping impacted passengers and the company restore normal operations,” an ALPA spokesman said. “The court has spoken and Spirit pilots will fully comply with the order handed down, which is completely in line with our overriding goal: the resumption of normal operations. We call on the company to join forces with ALPA and the Spirit pilots to do just that.”

Meyer said business at the airport is mostly back to normal, though it could take up to three days to re-accommodate passengers on Spirit flights.

“I genuinely believe Spirit is doing everything they can to accommodate their passengers,” he said, adding that stranded fliers were given hotel vouchers or flown home on other carriers.