May 2 (Reuters) – U.S. low-cost airline Spirit Airlines on Monday rejected an offer to buy JetBlue Airways in favor of Frontier Airlines, saying the deal was unlikely to be approved by the public. competition authorities.
To get its hands on its rival Spirit, JetBlue had added to its offer of 33 dollars per title a compensation for breach of contract of 200 million dollars in the event of failure of the operation for antitrust reasons.
The Department of Justice and six U.S. states filed a lawsuit in September to untie the “Northeast Alliance” strategic partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue Airways in the northeastern United States, alleging the deal would lead to a increased prices at busy airports in the region.
“We believe that a merger of JetBlue and Spirit has a slim chance of receiving antitrust clearance as long as the ‘Northeast Alliance’ between JetBlue and American Airlines exists,” Spirit said Monday in a letter to JetBlue’s chief executive. , Robin Hayes.
The board of directors of Spirit Airlines has confirmed in parallel its agreement to a merger with Frontier Airlines, whose purchase offer made in February amounts to 22.44 dollars per share in shares and in cash.
JetBlue said it would offer a remedial package to address regulatory concerns, including a “divestiture of all Spirit assets in New York and Boston so that JetBlue does not increase its presence at airports covered by the Northeast Alliance”. (Report David Shepardson in Washington and Nilanjana Basu in Bangalore, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Matthieu Protard)