JetBlue and Frontier still can’t get over Spirit Airlines

JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Frontier Airlines have a lot of unfortunate things in common lately. Both reported third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, and both their stock prices are falling. Plus, both companies’ financial statements talk about Spirit Airlines (SAVE), between the two carriers ex.

Although JetBlue presented large gains in profitabilitywhich increased its operating margin by five percentage points, it still lost $38 million on $2.4 billion in revenue. Its share price has fallen more than 13 per cent.

Meanwhile, Frontier’s razor-thin margins cut the other waywith $26 million in net income on $935 million in revenue. Its share price has fallen almost 20 per cent. But both of their failed attempts to merge with Spirit continue to loom large.

In March, JetBlue blow off its binding with Spirit after a judge blocked the union on antitrust grounds the year before. JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty has taken to calling the case “three years of distraction;” in its earnings release, JetBlue says that “For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, special items” on its cost book included “Spirit-related costs.”

The company’s founder, who is no longer with JetBlue himself, has even suggested that Spirit made a mistake by not going with its former suitor — Frontier Airlines.

Spirit originally intended to merge with Frontier, but blew things off when JetBlue came along a (financially) sweeter courtship. Although recently it has emerged that Spirit and Frontier are rekindle their former connectionFrontier’s earnings statement shows it never stopped thinking about its abandoned merger: A footnote points to “$1 million in employee retention costs related to the completed merger with Spirit Airlines, Inc., for the nine months that ended September 30, 2023.”

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