Airlines
JetBlue Offers to Buy Spirit Airlines for $3.6 billion
Offer from JetBlue would represent a 50 percent premium on Spirit’s stock price and bring between $600 and $700 million in synergies.
A JetBlue Airbus A320 lands in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2017. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by redlegsfan21)
A JetBlue Airbus A320 lands in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2017. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by redlegsfan21)

New York-based JetBlue said late Tuesday that it has offered to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.6 billion under what it called a “superior proposal” to Spirit’s previous merger agreement with Frontier Airlines. JetBlue’s offer of $33 per share in cash represents a premium of some 50 percent on Spirit’s stock price on April 4 and a higher monetary value than the cash and stock offer from Frontier. Spirit and Frontier on February 7 agreed to merge but didn’t expect the deal to close until the second half of the year. Under JetBlue's proposal, the combined company would maintain the JetBlue brand and continue to base its headquarters in New York City.