hercretired

The ruling basically is the court saying we (the government) should not faciliate anything that hampers competition. Now, if the "free market" (Spirit fails and shuts down, due to no merger), and thus consumers are left with fewer choices to travel, so be it. The blood is not on the government's hands.

Regarding the "Frontier will buy Spirit theory" - that was proposed in July 2022, when Frontier stock price was $12. Frontier was going to use Frontier shares to buy Spirit. Imagine $12 each tokens to play games at Chuck E. Cheese. Now those tokens are worth $5 each. Can Barry pull it off, even if he wants to ?

"Spirit is on sale now" (Stock price down 60%). While true, the better decision will be Barry lets them bleed out, then magically appear with a Barry Biffle first aid kit. What is Spirit going to say? No?

So expect a lot of "we are not interested anymore" / "2024 we are looking at other focus areas" when Barry is asked. Make no mistake, I am sure Barry is considering buying/merging/etc with Spirit.

My opinion is Spirit, now with no dance partner, is at risk of bankruptcy and insolvency and possibly closing its doors altogether, sans another rescue attempt (which we know the DOJ is against anyway).

Alaska/Hawaiian - they will closely monitor the developments in this case and carefully craft their case, which will be successful. JetBlue and Spirit was the classroom for the Alaska/HA merger.

So the question for Frontier, which nobody knows the answer to, is: what is next?

Stay tuned

planejoe

We all know Indigo loves dying airlines.

They also stated they can't afford to pay us current market A320 pilot rates so how are they going to afford a new airline?

Gary et al

It’s going to happen, just a matter of time now.

BobSacamano

For the love of God this line of reasoning is embarrassing.

Stayontarget

I believe the future term we are about to hear is “cost savings through synergy.”

planejoe

Was meant tongue in cheek... Carry on...

The judge denied the merger based on the Clayton Act which is designed to promote business competition and prevent the formation of monopolies. If they didn't let B6 merge with them why would they let us eliminate an airline that fights us for the most rock bottom pricing. We won't be allowed to buy them either.

Silver02ex

This is my question also.

Goingolfing

lmaooo. He didn't allow the merger because he felt it was going to cause in increase in fares. B6 buying NK is a completely different animal than F9 buying them..not even close. So, whatever you are trying to imply with the Clayton Act is incorrect and taken out of context.

planejoe

Yes increased rates and decreased competition. We fly a lot of the same routes, you think we will eliminate our competition AND keep rates low? Good luck proving that to the court.

Goingolfing

There would be nothing to prove in court. A merger between the two would have no issues