JetBlue Would Raise Spirit Fares by 40%
JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit could be in jeopardy, following the revelation that the airline plans to increase fares by as much s 40%.
JetBlue Airways plans to raise airfares on routes flown by Spirit Airlines between 24% and 40% if the carriers’ proposed merger goes through, Law360 reports. The information comes from documents released as part of a pending civil lawsuit. The documents were improperly redacted. Portions that were intended to be redacted were viewable from the documents posted to the public docket if the text was copied and pasted into a new document. Those documents are no longer posted publicly.
This lawsuit is brought by travelers seeking to block JetBlue’s $3.8 billion takeover of Spirit, and is separate from the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. “There is direct evidence in the form of party admissions that the merger will have anticompetitive effects,” the lawsuit claims.
JetBlue has publicly said that that if approved, its merger with Spirit will not result in significant price increases. The airlines have also offered to divest all of Spirit’s assets in Boston and New York, which are JetBlue’s main bases, as well as select gates in Fort Lauderdale where both airlines maintain bases.
