(Photo JetBlue Airways)
JETBLUE AIRWAYS and Spirit Airlines have scrapped an agreement that would have seen the two companies merge to become the fifth largest carrier in the US.
The airlines said they “continue to believe in the procompetitive benefits of the combination” but that the July 2022 merger agreement was being terminated after failing to satisfy the necessary legal and regulatory approvals. “We believed this merger was worth pursuing because it would have unleashed a national low-fare, high-value competitor to the Big Four airlines,” said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s CEO. “We are proud of the work we did with Spirit to lay out a vision to challenge the status quo, but given the hurdles to closing that remain, we decided together that both airlines’ interests are better served by moving forward independently.”