In a webcast today, Spirit’s leadership discussed the decisions behind its board’s unanimous rejection of JetBlue’s tender offer, and reiterated its support for the merger with Frontier. Speaking to a call full of investors and journalists, CEO of Spirit, Ted Christie, outlined the issues with JetBlue’s offer. He said,
“At the heart of the board’s decision is the fact that JetBlue’s offer is not reasonably capable of being consummated. JetBlue’s regulatory case is weak and defies common sense … I have to wonder if JetBlue is purposefully downplaying the substantial regulatory risk.”
Also at the heart of the concerns is JetBlue’s relationship with American Airlines. The DOJ is currently litigating the Northeast Alliance in court. Christie believes the regulatory concerns of a Spirit-JetBlue merger will make the deal, ultimately, impossible.
“It’s inconceivable to us that an acquisition of Spirit by JetBlue gets approved unless they abandon the NEA anti-competitive alliance with American Airlines. JetBlue has demonstrated that preserving this alliance with American and not its acquisition of Spirit is its first prize.”
Christie accused JetBlue of downplaying the regulatory risk. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
A cynical attempt at disruption
Christie went on to label the JetBlue move to offer a deal with Spirit as, “a cynical attempt to disrupt our merger with Frontier because the Spirit-Frontier combination poses a competitive threat.”
The CEO spoke for 10 minutes, scathing in his commentary, accusing JetBlue of spreading misinformation about the board and its processes. Calling the New York airline ‘desperate to disrupt’, he assessed,
“I think they’re scared of the competition. I think JetBlue believes it’s worth the $200 million reverse termination fee to disrupt our pending merger with Frontier.”
Spirit’s board believes JetBlue is simply…