JetBlue Tries to Get Into The Spirit Of Things As Frontier Comes Out In Front

Earlier in February 2022, Frontier and Spirit Airlines seemed to be leaving the merger party, hand, having announced a “definitive merger agreement” that would combine their companies to create a competitive ultra-low fare airline.

They stated that the customer stands to benefit, including those in underserved communities, and equally important, job creation on both sides of the aisle. Ted Christie, President and CEO of Spirit essentially said “we do” take Frontier to be our lawfully wedded business partner, adding that “we’re a perfect fit.”  William A. Franke, Frontier’s Chairman of the Board of Directors also emphasized working together [with Spirit] on their “complementary footprints”.

In early April, JetBlue’s CEO not wanting to be left out in the cold stated that “we could be a perfect match.” A month later, JetBlue chooses to enhance its proposal to acquire all outstanding common stock of Spirit Airlines for $33 per share, cash, adding that it offers Spirit shareholders superior financial value and better certainty than the Frontier deal.  Perhaps, JetBlue’s unsolicited cash deal-or-no-deal was meant to garner a similar outcome as a certain recent purchase of a social media company?

JetBlue’s mention of divestiture of assets, remedy packages to address regulatory concerns of their NorthEast Alliance (NEA) with American Airlines, and a whole host of other concessions and risks not be taken by Frontier is more than sufficient reason for Spirit to leave them out in the cold. At least with Frontier, they remain mostly intact while leveraging the expanded fleet and reach, and Spirit Airlines said as much in a rebuttal earlier today, 02 May 2022, that they’re happy with the “less lucrative deal with Frontier.”

FMI: https://spirit.com, https://ir.flyfrontier.com