Jul 27, 2022 - Economy
Spirit Airlines merger with Frontier is dead

- Nathan Bomey, author ofAxios Closer

A Spirit airlines plane takes off from Miami International Airport on July 27. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Spirit Airlines has terminated its proposed merger with fellow budget airline Frontier after several weeks of will-they-or-won't-they speculation.
Driving the news: Spirit announced the deal's collapse Wednesday afternoon after the company's shareholders were poised to vote on it.
- Facing competition from JetBlue, which made a rival bid for Spirit, Frontier had signaled that it did not expect to win the support of Spirit shareholders, CNBC reported.
- JetBlue had offered a cash deal of about $3.7 billion, while Frontier had offered cash and stock worth about $2.6 billion.
What's next: Spirit said Wednesday it plans to hold discussions with JetBlue about a possible deal, which would form the nation's fifth largest airline.
- Spirit's stock closed up 3.9% on Wednesday and was up another 2.6% in aftermarket trading to nearly $25.