In February 2022 it was announced that Frontier Airlines would acquire Spirit Airlines, forming (by far) the largest ultra low cost carrier in the United States. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, JetBlue has swooped in, and has submitted an offer to acquire Spirit Airlines.
Continue reading: Wild: JetBlue Submits Offer To Acquire Spirit Airlines
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Absolutely wild. Definitely seems more like JetBlue trying to prevent Frontier from buying Spirit than them actually wanting to acquire the airline. The customer base of Spirit just doesn't match with that of JetBlue; it doesn't work in the same way of Frontier + Spirit.
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Excellent analysis.
JetBlue is feeling the pinch on all its core makets, NYC, FLL, MCO and BOS by Spirit.
Compared to Spirit’s fleet size , JetBlue has quite a weak network and poor operational performance. They are heavily in trenches in saturated markets where there is congested airspace.
Does anyone know because frontier/spirit was a merger and this attempt is an acquisition, is Spirit as a fiduciary for its shareholders obligated to accept the highest value offer they receive?
And agreed- (if) this goes through, north east alliance will be gone.
JetBlue is a poorly run airline and has been for much of its existence. It has a nifty, cut above product, but can't run a clean operation on the brightest and sunniest of days. From staffing to operations, to aircraft dispatch, B6 is a veritable mess, run by amateurs. The whole point of acquiring Spirit (and through a massive all cash deal) shows the depth of the inexperience at play here. It is a steep price to pay for talent (pilots, mostly) and aircraft, which while they fit nicely into the B6 fleet, will see their leases renegotiated if this deal comes to pass. Some argue that the announcement yesterday also blunts the DoJ's case against the AA/B6 Northeast Alliance. Perhaps it does. Long run, JetBlue is destined to merge into one of the big US3 and that US3 will likely be American Airlines. How they'll pull it off? Difficult to say. AA doesn't have the finances to acquire B6, but SPAC's and activist investors and market conditions will probably dictate otherwise.
It's sad that Jetblue's recent woes have made people think they are a poorly run airline. They still have the best onboard service, food and entertainment by a longshot.
Presumably this is about knocking out 2 strong competitors. From my viewpoint anything that helps kill the ULCC is a win in my book. The coach experience has gotten beyond horrible.
Really hope this is blocked. This would definitely increase airfares. I love JetBlue and will pick it over any domestic if given the option, but sometimes Spirit works just fine for what I need.
I have a friend who is a pilot for Spirit and he said the motivation for the acquisition is simple…JetBlue needs the pilots and planes. They cannot get more planes right now because other airlines have orders that are ahead of them from the manufacturers.
Frontier drops their bid to acquire Spirit, leaving them as one of the smallest domestic carriers left. United makes a bid to buy Frontier and Kirby gets the Denver crown he has been coveting since joining UA. Right after everyone is done overpaying for these acquisitions the economy tanks and the airlines come to the taxpayers looking for a bailout to get them through.
Thanks for the reminder that JetBlue should have been the one to acquire VX. Sigh...
Odd flex but:
As a frequent flier to southern Florida, I love the pricing pressure Spirit puts in everyone else.
As an AA elite who can earn on and use my status on Jetblue - more direct flights and maybe this is the millionth straw that breaks Isom’s back when Legacy Spirit aircraft get IFE!
JetBlue needs to grow to survive. They lost out on buying Virgin America. Now they're facing a combined Frontier/Spirit, making them an even smaller player. JetBlue needs planes, routes, and crew, ASAP. This acquisition will get them that. Other than Spirit, who can they buy? Alaska has a much bigger market cap and a very different route network and fleet. I don't see them attempting that merger.
So if JetBlue does manage to acquire Spirit, where does that leave Frontier? I suppose they could try to merge with Allegiant and preserve their ULCC model, but it's definitely less of a prize than Spirit would be.
As a JFK-based flyer, I'm definitely rooting for JetBlue... recent woes aside, they've historically had a very good product, great crew, and Mint is just heads and shoulder above the competition. If this acquisition allows them to expand and thrive, I'm all for it.
This looks like an obvious ploy by JetBlue, to either slow down or stop the a Frontier-Spirit merger by creating the appearance of a feeding frenzy for airline cost competition and consolidation and pump Frontiers merger brakes. There is NO way in the world Jetblue can believe this going to be approved by federal regulators. Speaking of regulators , I believe even the Frontier Spirit merger which in a different economy would make sense, however with the current administration I believe even this option only has a 50% - 50% chance of being approved, still a better chance then a JetBlue merger. The Feds are also concerned with Job loss and although JetBlue has said they are creating some new jobs with AA in NYC, nowhere in their statement was an offer to protect any jobs for current Spirit employees. Obviously this wont impact Spirit Pilots since there is a pilots shortage, everyone else, including FA's could require a re-evaluation as well as a transfer out of their current base to another City.
If this merger would alleviate any ongoing pilot or aircraft shortages then it’s going to happen.
Ahhh... I can't wait to bask in the remarkable combination of JetBlue's operational efficiency and Spirit's charming customers.
Am I the only one thinking Spirit will be the surviving business model even if JetBlue buys them.
Yes you are the only one considering JetBlue clearly stated it would be the surviving brand if this moves forward.
This is the kind of corporate culture/business model miss-match in a big (for JetBlue) acquisition that can sink both companies.
Operationally, JetBlue is poorly run. When your on-time record is worse than the ULCCs, that says a lot.
If the combined company can magically end up with Spirit's operational skills plus JetBlue's product, great. But given the outcome of so many mergers in the past, both in and out of the airline industry, the opposite seems more likely.
If JetBlue wants to grow, why did it abandon the bulk of its west coast network? What happened to all the flights between SEA, PDX, SFO, SMF, LGB, and SAN? What happened to expanding flights in ONT? JetBlue is full of crap
I will be we fly Spirit again, the business model just is not for me. But I do t take that personally. Jetblue on the other hand, is an airline I would've glad to see wither away after frontier merges with spirit. I've never forgotten or forgiven their blatant racism in the case of Raed Jarrar in 2003. Jetblue has been a niche player and this is their last hail Mary for market relevance. Good riddance.