Spirit postpones the shareholder merger vote to continue negotiations with Frontier, JetBlue
A Spirit Airlines aircraft on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on February 7, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | beautiful pictures
Spirit Airlines on Wednesday delayed a shareholder vote on the proposed merger with Frontier Airlines until July 8, a few hours before a meeting scheduled for Thursday so that it can further discuss options with Frontier and the opponent suing JetBlue Airways.
This is the second time Spirit has delayed a vote on its planned combination with Frontier and the longest. Controversial battle for a US airline for many years.
Spirit originally scheduled the vote for Thursday for June 10 but delayed it for similar reasons.
Both Frontier and JetBlue increased their offers in the week before the scheduled vote approached.
“Spirit won’t postpone tomorrow’s meeting if they feel they’ve got the vote,” said Henry Harteveldt, a tourism industry consultant and president of the Atmospheric Research Group. Spirit did not comment on that case. “This is like the end of a soap opera.”
Borders and Spirits published for the first time their intention to merge in February. In April, JetBlue made all the cash, surprise bid for Spirit, but Spirit’s board of directors repeatedly rejected JetBlue’s offer, arguing that a JetBlue takeover would not pass regulators.
Both combinations would create the United States’ fifth largest aircraft carrier.
JetBlue hit back at Spirit, saying it did not negotiate in good faith, sparking a war of words between the airlines as they competed for shareholder support ahead of the vote.
Frontier and JetBlue did not immediately comment on the postponed vote.
Spirit stock was up about 2% in subsequent trading, while Frontier was up more than 1% and JetBlue was down 1%.
