First suggesting a legacy would buy Spirit and merge it with a regional is asinine. There's no industry precedent for that and contracts and merger policy would prevent it.

Second why would any legacy want to buy Spirit when they can just outspend them by throwing metal at their routes and then fight over the scraps when they go under?

The only buyout chance I see is Indigo picking Spirit up in a fire sale.

But Airbus/PW owe Spirit a lot of money and it sounds like they are making changes to the business model. I think Spirit will survive.