JetBlue Offers $3.6 Billion to Acquire Spirit Airlines

JetBlue Airways has made an offer to acquire Spirit Airlines for about $3.6 billion. The offer comes as Spirit is planning to merge with Frontier Airlines.

JetBlue has offered $33 a share in cash, one of the people said. That price is a roughly 40 percent premium to Frontier’s cash and share offer for Spirit, which has an implied value of about $23 a share, NYT reports. The board of Spirit has not made a decision yet on which deal to pursue. Spirit will work with financial and legal advisers to evaluate the offer, according to a statement.

Spirit and Frontier are similar and their merger is the one that makes more sense. On the other hand, Spirit and JetBlue are both concentrated in the Eastern United States and have a different business model.