Originally Posted by
Gone Flying
as a guess, the judge’s premise to shoot down the merger seemed to revolve around NK’s business model. F9 has the same one and might get past the DOJ. On the flip side the DOJ was just emboldened to attack any and every merger with this ruling.
In the end the ruling wasn't made based on the business model, but that the merger may reduce competition on the markets they serve, and that no-one else is big enough to replace Spirit there. F9/NK merger would most definitely remove more of that competition, and even fewer players could replace them. This Judge would never allow any merger based on this ruling, and DOJ likely knows it.