JetBlue announces a deal to buy Spirit Airlines
Last edited Thu Jul 28, 2022, 08:03 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: CNN Business
New York (CNN Business)JetBlue Airways on Thursday announced it would purchase Spirit Airlines, a combination that would create America's fifth-largest airline. The announcement comes a day after Spirit pulled the plug on a deal to merge with Frontier. JetBlue had been pursuing a hostile bid for Spirit even while Spirit sought shareholder approval for a lower-priced deal with Frontier.
Spirit had continually expressed concern whether regulators would approve a deal with JetBlue. But shareholders had balked at accepting Frontier's less-valuable cash-and-stock offer when they had JetBlue's all-cash offer on the table. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said the deal will be fruitful for investors and passengers. "We are excited to deliver this compelling combination that turbocharges our strategic growth, enabling JetBlue to bring our unique blend of low fares and exceptional service to more customers, on more routes," he said in a statement.
Higher fares
But industry experts have said the deal could lead to higher fares across the industry. A Frontier-Spirit deal, by contrast, would have brought together two airlines that have very low base fares. Neither airline has first class or business class seats. The presence of Spirit or Frontier on a route typically forces larger airlines, such as American (AAL), United (UAL) and Delta (DAL), to offer more seats at their similar bare-bones basic economy fare.
JetBlue may argue that it charges less than the larger network carriers, but its airfares are higher than Spirit and Frontier's. And JetBlue plans to reconfigure the Spirit planes if it acquires the airline to add first class seating. For that reason, it's possible that the JetBlue deal for Spirit will face strong antitrust scrutiny from the US Department of Justice, particularly if the Justice Department views the acquisition as harmful to consumers.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/investing/spirit-jetblue/
Short article. Now updated.
Original article -
JetBlue had been pursuing a hostile bid for Spirit even while Spirit sought shareholder approval for a lower-priced deal with Frontier. Spirit had continually expressed concern whether regulators would approve a deal with JetBlue. But shareholders had balked at accepting Frontier's less-valuable cash-and-stock offer when they had JetBlue's all-cash offer on the table.
The deal announced Thursday would pay Spirit shareholders $33.50 per share in cash, including a prepayment of $2.50 per share in cash payable upon Spirit stockholders' approval of the transaction — even before the deal closes.
JetBlue will pay Spirit shareholders an additional 10 cents a month for any delay in closing after December of this year, which could raise the price to $34.15 a share. And if regulators block the deal, JetBlue will pay Spirit $70 million, and its shareholders would get an additional $400 million.
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(collapsed after Lockerbie and was picked apart by United)
(last merger in 2010 with United)
(last merger with Delta in 2008)
(operations shutdown in 1991 although they have attempted a come-back)
(collapsed and was bought by American)
And yes those existed in the "1970s" and were "national" (and even "international" ).
meaning they were.... wait for it.... "national". And that definitely includes Continental. (ETA - I went to Seattle and back here to Philly on Northwest - that was the main servicing airline for the PNW at that time).
I have been on all of those (except Pan Am) at some point over the past 50+ years, from sea to shining sea, to and from every corner of the continental U.S., and in between.and even over to Hawai'i.
There has been an extreme consolidation of airlines since the 1980s (and I am not including any of the "regional carriers" since they are "regional" vs "national" but some ended up merged and consolidated into "national" carriers ).
Oh and will add yet ANOTHER "national" airline from the "1970s" that "disappeared" -
(merged with American in 2013)
The beginning of "the end" - S. 2493 (95th): Airline Deregulation Act (1978/1979)
when they changed names from Allegheny to that, and later mergers/acquisitions, became "US Airways".
Last I looked, "1979" was "in the 1970s". 
A couple kids I grew up with who lived a few doors down, had a father who worked for both Piedmont and Allegheny, and would have all kinds of branded model jets around the house (also had an electric train set).
