JetBlue bids for Spirit Airlines

Whilst this side of the water JetBlue has been seemingly putting its efforts into a transatlantic challenge (see Boston in this issue) on home soil another contest has emerged.  The airline has made a $3.6bn bid for Spirit Airlines, a carrier seemingly on its way to ownership by Frontier Airlines.

To put it all in perspective Frontier Airlines is an important ultra-low-cost carrier headquartered in Denver, Colorado, established in 1994.  Whilst not in the same scale as the big four US carriers (American, Delta, Southwest and United) it operates over 100 Airbus A320 series aircraft.  Spirit also dates back to the 1990s and is likewise an Airbus operator with 176 aircraft.

In announcing the merger between Frontier and Spirit two months ago, executives from the two carriers argued they could together challenge larger US carriers and save about $1bn in costs.

Frontier said that JetBlue's effort was "surprising" given an antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice challenging an alliance between American Airlines and JetBlue.  

Spirit noted that after speaking with financial and legal advisers, its directors believe JetBlue's offer could “reasonably” turn out to be the better of the two deals.

JetBlue said it looked forward to completing a deal, calling itself “the best partner for Spirit”.

However the products are totally different, JetBlue a quality regional airline and Frontier very basic in what it offers passengers.

Whether this diversion affects JetBlue across the Atlantic remains to be seen.  Whatever happens Southwest remains the US largest budget carrier.

www.jetblue.com

www.flyfrontier.com

www.spirit.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum