Spirit Airlines Inc. said late Wednesday it has ended its merger agreement with Frontier Group Holdings Inc. and will continue discussions with JetBlue Airways Corp.
Spirit
SAVE,
is “disappointed that we had to terminate our proposed merger with Frontier,” the ultra low-cost airline’s Chief Executive Ted Christie said in a short statement.
Spirit and Frontier
ULCC,
announced their agreement in February, with JetBlue
JBLU,
entering the fray a few months later. Both Frontier and JetBlue had upped their offers for Spirit.
“Moving forward, the Spirit board of directors will continue our ongoing discussions with JetBlue as we pursue the best path forward for Spirit and our stockholders,” Christie said.
Shares of JetBlue fell 1.6% in the extended session after ending the regular trading day up 3.6%. Spirit shares were up 1.2%, while Frontier shares were down 0.2%.
