Federal Judge Blocks JetBlue’s Purchase of Spirit Airlines

A federal judge has blocked JetBlue’s planned acquisition of Spirit Airlines, ruling with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over anticompetitive concerns. 

The deal, which was announced in the summer of 2022, would have created the fifth-largest airline in the U.S. 

The ruling, which came down on Tuesday afternoon from U.S. District Judge William Young, blocked the merger because the deal would have violated the “core principle of antitrust law,” which is protecting the market from anticompetitive harm. 

Eliminating Spirit, which is the largest ultra-low-cost carrier in the U.S., would drive up fares for consumers, even though the combined airline would still be smaller than the U.S.’s big legacy carriers, Young said. 

“A post-merger, combined firm of JetBlue and Spirit would likely place stronger competitive pressure on the larger airlines in the country. At the same time, however, the consumers that rely on Spirit’s unique, low-price model would likely be harmed,” he added.

“Spirit’s unique position in the domestic scheduled passenger airline industry would be exceedingly difficult for another airline, or a combination of other airlines, to replicate, even with low barriers to entry.”

JetBlue will now have to decide whether or not it wants to appeal the ruling. 

The ruling comes not long after JetBlue’s Northeast Alliance with American Airlines was also struck down. American asked a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to consider overturning the ruling in December. The path forward for that deal, and for the appeal of the Spirit deal, will be determined by new CEO Joanna Geraghty, who is taking over as CEO of JetBlue next month.