(Washington) The American low-cost airline JetBlue invited itself Tuesday in the marriage announced between the low-cost companies Spirit and Frontier, with a counter-offer on Spirit, higher than that of its competitor.
Posted at 6:52 p.m.
“JetBlue submits a superior proposal to acquire Spirit,” the airline said in a statement, citing a $3.6 billion offer, an amount higher than the $2.9 billion that Frontier was planning to pay.
JetBlue believes its proposal “represents the most attractive opportunity for Spirit shareholders,” the company said in the statement.
“The transaction would accelerate our strategic growth and create sustainable, long-term value for stakeholders of both companies,” said Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue, quoted in the press release.
The new company would generate around $11.9 billion in annual revenue, according to estimates based on 2019 revenues, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic plunged air travel.
The announcement caused Spirit’s title to jump on Wall Street, which soared 22.42% just before the close, to end at 26.92 dollars.
JetBlue’s counter-offer comes as the marriage between Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, which would have controlled 51.5% of the new entity, was announced on February 7.
The two companies had announced their intention to merge to lower their costs and thus better compete with the country’s large airlines.
A Frontier spokesperson reacted late Tuesday afternoon, assuring that their offer was better than JetBlue’s counter-offer.
“The transaction between Spirit and Frontier is in the interest of consumers and shareholders,” said the spokesperson.
He also assured that “unlike an attractive alliance between Spirit and Frontier, an acquisition of Spirit by JetBlue […] will lead to more expensive travel for consumers”.
Whichever bid Spirit ultimately wins, it will have to get approval from US antitrust authorities, which under Joe Biden’s administration repeatedly opposed mergers they believed would reduce competetion.
In the field of air transport, JetBlue is thus subject to a complaint filed in September by the Ministry of Justice against a partnership with American Airlines on lines leaving from New York and Boston.
The Frontier-Spirit merger would have created the nation’s fifth-largest airline by seat capacity, behind American, United, Delta and Southwest.