by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Tue January 30, 2024
JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines filed a joint court appeal asking the First U.S. Circuit of Appeals to reverse the blocking of their merger and expedite the decision because the merger agreement has an outside closing date of July 24, 2024.
According to Reuters, Spirit may face bankruptcy without the merger due to weak demand in key markets, while JetBlue recently announced it, too, is facing falling revenue at the beginning of 2024.
In the filing, they argued to reverse the decision of U.S. District Judge William Young, who sided with the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the merger, blocking the $3.8 billion merger from taking place in mid-January. The main reasons for blocking the merger, which would create the nation’s fifth-largest airline, were antitrust concerns and ticket price increases.
"JetBlue plans to convert Spirit's planes to the JetBlue layout and charge JetBlue's higher average fares to its customers. The elimination of Spirit would harm cost-conscious travelers who rely on Spirit’s low fares," U.S. District Court Judge William Young wrote in his decision.
According to the appeals filing, the airlines argue that Young’s decision “disregards the benefits of the transaction to the majority of the flying public.”
There has been a fair prediction that the two airlines would appeal the initial ruling. The two issued a statement on the subject on January 19, saying “they have jointly filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, consistent with the requirements of the merger agreement.”
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