American airline JetBlue It announced on Monday that it was abandoning the purchase of its rival spirit Airlines, A few weeks after an unfavorable court decision put the operation in jeopardy.
The directors of the two companies considered that they would not obtain the necessary licenses for this merger by the deadline they set, the end of last July. The operation would have created the country's fifth-largest airline.
Although the companies defended the process for $3.8 billion As beneficial to consumers, a federal judge accepted the Justice Department's position that the merger would lead to higher prices for consumers.
JetBlue to pay the soul 69 million dollars As part of a negotiated agreement, to end negotiations.
“Given the difficulties in completing the transaction, we jointly decided that the interests of both airlines were best served by moving forward independently,” JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty said.
Spirit remains confident in its “future as a successful, independent airline,” its CEO, Ted Christie, said in a statement.
“After discussing our options with our advisors and JetBlue, we have determined that current regulatory hurdles will not allow us to close this transaction in a timely manner,” Christie added.
He added: “We are disappointed that we could not move forward with a deal that would have saved consumers hundreds of millions and created a competitor to the dominant Big Four airlines” (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines). .
