JetBlue Airways reached a deal to buy Spirit Airlines, hours after the discount carrier ended its merger agreement with Frontier Airlines.
A JetBlue acquisition of Spirit would create the country’s fifth-largest carrier and remove a discount airline from the U.S. market.
JetBlue’s surprise, all-cash bid for Spirit in April had thrown Spirit’s plan to combine with fellow discounter Frontier into question. For months, Frontier and JetBlue competed for Spirit, each sweetening their offers, until the original merger plan fell apart earlier Wednesday, clearing the way for JetBlue.
Spirit said it planned to continue talks to sell itself to JetBlue after ending the Frontier agreement.
JetBlue executives have argued for months that buying Spirit would help it compete with large carriers like American, Delta, United and Southwest, which control most of the U.S. market, and fast-track its growth by giving it access to more Airbus jetliners and pilots, both of which are in short supply.
JetBlue recently offered about $3.7 billion to buy Spirit.
Spirit previously rebuffed JetBlue’s bids and said such a deal wasn’t likely to be approved by regulators, in part because JetBlue’s alliance with American, which the Justice Department sued to block last year.
The deal faces a high hurdle for regulatory approval.
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