Spirit had originally intended to merge with Frontier, but called things off when JetBlue came along with a sweeter offer
JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Frontier Airlines have a lot of unfortunate things in common lately. Both presented third-quarter earnings Tuesday, and both their stock prices are tanking. Plus, both companies’ financial statements are talking about Spirit Airlines (SAVE), the two carriers’ mutual ex.
Though JetBlue presented big gains in profitability, raising its operating margin by five percentage points, it still lost $38 million on $2.4 billion in revenue. Its stock price is down more than 13%.
Meanwhile, Frontier’s razor-thin margins cut the other way, with $26 million in net income on $935 million in revenue. Its stock price is down nearly 20%. But both their failed attempts to merge with Spirit continue to loom.
In March, JetBlue called off its tie-up with Spirit after a judge blocked the union on antitrust grounds the year before. JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty has taken to calling the matter “three years of distraction;” in its earnings release, JetBlue says that “for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, special items” on its cost ledger “included Spirit-related costs.”
“To be clear, we’re not interested in revisiting the Spirit potential acquisition,” Geraghty said during JetBlue’s earnings call.
The company’s founder, who is no longer with JetBlue himself, has even suggested that Spirit made a mistake not going with its previous suitor — Frontier Airlines.
Spirit had originally intended to merge with Frontier, but called things off when JetBlue came along with a (financially) sweeter courtship. Though reports have recently emerged that Spirit and Frontier are rekindling their erstwhile connection, Frontier’s earnings statement shows that it never stopped thinking about their abandoned entwining: A footnote points to “$1 million in employee retention costs incurred in connection with the terminated merger with Spirit Airlines, Inc., for the nine months ended September 30, 2023.”
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