Don’t forget to thank Robin Hayes
05-02-2026 | 05:04 PM
#11
On Reserve
Joined: Jul 2025
Posts: 76
Likes: 29
Not only did he leave JetBlue in a far worse position, he managed to engineer the failure of Spirit as well. He may be responsible for taking down two airlines.
When every arm of the government that has influence over mergers is telling you “NO”, you listen. This is especially true when you’re already being sued by the DOJ for the last dumb idea you tried to pull off (NE alliance) under the wrong administration.
Instead Hayes torpedos a merger agreement with Frontier that was widely believed to have promise. He only needs to appeal to the greedy Spirit shareholders and start a proxy war.
The results are half in. Spirit is gone and JetBlue is considered next-up for chapter 11 as they burn through $3.5M daily.
Let Airbus know they’re North American CEO is a turd.
When every arm of the government that has influence over mergers is telling you “NO”, you listen. This is especially true when you’re already being sued by the DOJ for the last dumb idea you tried to pull off (NE alliance) under the wrong administration.
Instead Hayes torpedos a merger agreement with Frontier that was widely believed to have promise. He only needs to appeal to the greedy Spirit shareholders and start a proxy war.
The results are half in. Spirit is gone and JetBlue is considered next-up for chapter 11 as they burn through $3.5M daily.
Let Airbus know they’re North American CEO is a turd.
05-02-2026 | 05:07 PM
#12
Line Holder
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,168
Likes: 26
They may have known who was in charge, but I don't think they realized just how far the Biden administration would go to interfere with free market capitalism. Hard lesson to learn.
05-02-2026 | 05:14 PM
#13
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,877
Likes: 199
05-02-2026 | 06:29 PM
#15
On Reserve
Joined: Jul 2025
Posts: 76
Likes: 29
a lot of us were against the JB deal and nobody gives a rats ass what Labor wants. It was Greed that destroyed NK. Everyone slams Ted and he definitely made mistakes but he wasn’t wrong, should have voted in favor of F9. In the end the shareholders got what they deserved, nothing
05-03-2026 | 04:08 AM
#16
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,877
Likes: 199
I'm not convinced even that would have gone through. B6 was eliminating a low cost competitor to raise fares, F9 would have been monopolizing the market of low fare airlines in order to raise fares. When there is a zealous no merger mindset, then any argument could be made in court to block under 1890's legislation.
05-03-2026 | 04:41 AM
#18
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,877
Likes: 199
05-03-2026 | 05:39 AM
#19
Line Holder
Joined: Mar 2026
Posts: 231
Likes: 245
Once the government files the lawsuit it is almost always going to be blocked. The DOJ has a pretty impressive success record. By your definition of anti-trust laws every airline merger in history would have been blocked. We both know the Trump DOJ would have never brought this lawsuit.
05-03-2026 | 06:03 AM
#20
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 45,120
Likes: 796
From: Engines Turn or People Swim
In many cases the judges are making calls that they don't want to make, but are bound by the letter of the law. At that point as a jurist your options are...
1. Judicial activism, start waving your wand and legislating from the bench (at least until you squashed by superior benches, or maybe arrested).
2. Uphold a bad law as written, and hopefully in the process send a message to the legislature that they have some more homework to do.
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