the ruling shortly after. The two airlines cited the unlikelihood of the regulatory hurdles being overcome ahead of the merger agreement’s July 24 deadline as the key reason for the decision on Monday.
Spirit’s President and CEO Ted Christie also noted the regulatory challenges and said the company was “disappointed” the deal was unable to go forward. As part of the deal termination, JetBlue has agreed to pay Spirit $69 million. Both companies have stressed that they are confident in their plans to remain independent airlines and have both said they are pushing forward plans to get back to profitability.