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Frontier Airlines announced Wednesday it is taking another shot at its failed merger with Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy in November.
Bill Franke, chair of the airline’s board of directors, said the merger “will result in more value than Spirit’s standalone plan by creating a stronger low fare airline with the long-term viability to compete more effectively and enter new markets at scale.”
Frontier first tried to merge with Spirit Airlines in 2022, but was ultimately outbid by JetBlue. A federal judge blocked the merger between JetBlue (JBLU0.00%) and Spirit last January after Former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department sued, saying the deal would hurt consumers and limit competition.
Last October, reports surfaced that Spirit and Frontier were again discussing a merger, which at the time sent Spirit stock soaring.
Spirit has said it will crawl out of bankruptcy this quarter and has been slashing jobs and offloading some of its planes in cost-cutting measures.
Both Spirit and Frontier have struggled in the past few years, changing their models to attract more customers. Spirit, famous for being bare-bones, added first class seating in 2024. Frontier followed suit, announcing in December that its airplanes will have first-class seating by late 2025.
Barry Biffle, CEO of Frontier, said Wednesday that “we have long believed a combination with Spirit would allow us to unlock additional value creation opportunities.”
“As a combined airline, we would be positioned to offer more options and deeper savings, as well as an enhanced travel experience with more reliable service,” he added.