A JetBlue Airlines plane takes off near Spirit Airlines planes at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on May 16, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines is postponing its shareholder meeting, previously scheduled for Friday, until June 30 so it can continue deal talks with Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways, and with its stockholders, the carrier said Wednesday.
Spirit’s announcement came two days after JetBlue sweetened its offer for the discount airline, which has had a merger agreement in place with fellow budget carrier Frontier since February.
Frontier and JetBlue both say they see Spirit Airlines as key to their future growth. Either combination would create the fifth-largest airline in the U.S.
Spirit has repeatedly rebuffed JetBlue’s offers and said that an acquisition would be unlikely to pass muster with regulators, while JetBlue has contended both deals would face scrutiny from the Justice Department
JetBlue had previously offered to divest Spirit’s assets in New York and some in Florida to make the deal more palatable to regulators.
“We welcome this development as a necessary first step toward genuine negotiation between the Spirit Board and JetBlue,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said in a statement Wednesday. “Spirit shareholders are clearly urging the Spirit Board to engage with us constructively and provide us with the same information previously made available to Frontier so that we can reach a consensual transaction.”
Spirit didn’t immediately comment further.
JetBlue on Monday raised its offer for a reverse breakup to $350 million if the Justice Department were to block its purchase of Spirit. Frontier last week offered a $250 million reverse breakup fee, payable to Spirit shareholders, if that deal is knocked down by regulators.
Spirit shareholders were due to vote on the cash-and-stock Frontier deal on Friday. JetBlue urged Spirit stockholders to reject that merger.
Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis last week recommended shareholders vote in favor of the Frontier deal while another firm, ISS, said they should reject it.
Shares of Spirit and Frontier were up less than 1%, while JetBlue was down modestly in premarket trading Wednesday.
Frontier didn’t immediately comment.