Spirit Airlines has been aquired by SetBlue. Both parties report an agreement, after it was announced on Thursday that a merger between Spirit and Frontier Airlines had failed. The acquisition will cost JetBlue about $3.8 billion.

JetBlue fought for months for a stake in Spirit, which was all but done with Frontier. By coming up with better and better bids, JetBlue eventually came out on top. Per share is now $ 33.50 on the table.

Formally, the shareholders of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines have yet to approve the deal, as do the US authorities. That is expected in early 2023. Until then, JetBlue and Spirit will continue to fly independently of each other and under their own brand name.

Following the closing of the acquisition, the combined fleet will consist of 458 Airbus aircraft and a customer base of 77 million passengers per year. This makes JetBlue the fifth largest airline in the US.

Operations are controlled from the JetBlue headquarters in New York. The intention is that Spirit Airlines aircraft will have the same interior as those of JetBlue.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)