A federal judge is siding with the Biden administration and blocking JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition.
The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation’s biggest low-cost airline.
JetBlue argued that the deal would help consumers by making JetBlue a stronger competitor against bigger rivals that dominate the U.S. air-travel market.
U.S. District Judge William Young, who presided over a non-jury trial last year, said in the ruling Tuesday that the government had proven that the merger “would substantially lessen competition” and violated a century-old antitrust law.
Spirit and Frontier are head to head competitors in their space. Coming in pretty far behind is Allegiant.
Removing Spirit would remove nearly all pricing competition in that market segment.