American Airlines jetblue announced on Monday that it was abandoning the purchase of its competitor Spirit Airlines, A few weeks later an adverse court decision put the operation in jeopardy.
The directors of both companies admitted that they would not receive the necessary authorization for this merger by the deadline set at the end of July. This operation would have created the fifth largest airline in the country.
Although the companies defended the operation 3.8 billion dollars While deeming it beneficial to consumers, a federal judge accepted the Justice Department’s position that the merger would increase prices for consumers.
jetblue will pay spirit 69 million dollars To end negotiations, as part of a negotiated agreement.
JetBlue president Joanna Geraghty said, “Given the difficulties in completing the deal, we decided together that moving forward independently would best serve the interests of both airlines.”
Spirit is confident about its “future as a successful independent airline,” its CEO Ted Christie said in a statement.
“After discussing our options with our advisors and JetBlue, we concluded that existing regulatory constraints will not allow us to complete this transaction on a timely basis,” Christie said.
He said, “We are disappointed that we were not able to move forward on a deal that would have saved millions for consumers and created a competitor to the major ‘Big Four’ airlines (American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines). ” ,