Originally Posted by LFaber69

His rant is based off of an unfounded rumor of an airplane transaction falling through.

Originally Posted by SnowmanKiller

Now United is beginning the process of acquiring JetBlue...

Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot

I'd be shocked if there was an acquisition of Jetblue by United. I think that's just a future promise to get Jetblue to give up JFK gates and slots for whatever frequent flyer collusion scheme they are going to try and do to boost passenger sharing. You might see a code share, or Jetblue joins Star Alliance, but I highly doubt an acquisition of an airline with $8B of debt is something United wants to deal with just for some gates at JFK, especially since there is already a EWR hub with 430 daily flights.

Someone should make a Polymarket bet on a full acquisition of Jetblue by United. Would be interesting to see where people put their money.

Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot

I think the rant was because of the re-registration of the planes into Spirit's name on May 3rd. If they had been sold, they would not still be registered to Spirit. There are a few other reasons they could have re-registered them, for example if the planes had liens against them they could have just cleared them as part of the restructuring or for some tax benefit. Except that until Spirit has a profit there is not going to be any loss carryforwards to benefit from. They could have also re-capitalized them to start a new accelerated depreciation schedule, also not a benefit without a future profit. These last two reasons point to Spirit keeping them.

We know that in the extension Spirit said they were changing their accounting methods because of the new ownership structure, so it could be in conjunction with that as well, since the bondholders don't need a lien on the planes since they literally own them through their stock (which they have been actively selling).

Bottom line is that we will know in a few days when the 10Q is filed.

Originally Posted by SnowmanKiller

So now the important question is how many months until liquidation occurs. The whole value proposition of Spirit is they have assets (planes and revenue potential) that another airline would want enough to acquire the airline.

Because Spirit could not sell these 20 odd planes, that means the value of these assets is incredibly low - the domestic US market for aircraft is saturated. Now consider that the an acquisition of Spirit means acquiring its debt as well and the conclusion is obvious. Unable to sell planes piecemeal, Spirit will have no choice but to declare chapter 7 and liquidate in a fire sale. The debt holders will be completely wiped out, with now equity or any other compensation. The aircraft will be sold to foreign airlines for pennies and the capacity will leave the domestic US market.

I felt bad giving up my seniority but today it looks like the best decision I ever did after the merger was struck down. The reality is this industry is indeed stacked in favor of American, Delta, and United. A JetBlue-Spirit merger was struck down as anticompetitive. Now United is beginning the process of acquiring JetBlue, and Spirit will be fully liquidated no later than the end of 2026.

To my friends and former colleagues, you need to put your applications out NOW to one of the Big 3. You are already behind the power curve. In the event you can't get on with one of the Big 3 before Spirit liquidates you need to start networking again for anything that will keep you in the left seat - think regional DEC if that is still available by the time Spirit is gone. That will at least allow you to keep adding 121 PIC while you wait for a Big 3 phone call.

Originally Posted by checkgear

Youve been gone too long, there is nothing left to liquidate at Spirit. The shareholders have already been wiped out and the bond holders injected more cash than Spirit’s entire worth if they went down the chapter 7 route. No one wants the old birds and all the new and shiny ones are leased. Maybe someone is looking for a nice big yellow building in Florida?

I don’t even work there anymore but saying it’s all over is a bit of a stretch even for troll standards.

Originally Posted by SnowmanKiller

Now United is beginning the process of acquiring JetBlue, and Spirit will be fully liquidated no later than the end of 2026.

Originally Posted by fumeevented

Doesn't mean he's wrong though.

Originally Posted by afterburn81

Doesnt mean he’s RIGHT either. So we’re back to a broke airline that found another means of funding? Maybe another plan that includes utilizing these aircraft. Geesh man. The liquidation thing is really worn out. A guy that was supposedly right, told us all that NK would liquidate a long time ago. Eventually it will. Nothing says it will in the near term. Just people that need to justify making a major life sacrifice in which they are quite remorseful of. Whatever makes them feel better I suppose.

Originally Posted by LFaber69

Then what makes him/her right? His rant is based off of an unfounded rumor of an airplane transaction falling through. Based just off of that it means the “big 3” are the end all be all of the industry?

Now, maybe the sale didn't pan out, there are more than a handful of reasons why it didn’t. We know he/she doesn’t have any sort of inside information, if they did, they wouldn’t be sharing it here.