Passengers wait in line at the Spirit Airlines check-in counter at Orlando International Airport.
Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines caved this week and agreed to sell itself to JetBlue Airways for $3.8 billion, hours after scrapping a merger deal with Frontier Airlines that failed to win enough shareholder support.
The new deal would mean big changes for travelers if it clears regulatory hurdles.
JetBlue has earned a reputation for passenger amenities like relatively generous legroom, seatback screens, live television, free Wi-Fi, and free snacks like Cheez-Its and butter pretzel braids Stellar vegan. It also offers business class, with lie-flat seats.
Spirit, by contrast, has become a punchline for its bare-bones service. The cabins in their bright yellow planes are tighter, and passengers have to pay extra for “optional services” like carry-on luggage and having to choose a seat.
“It’s historic. This is the first time anybody wanted Spirit Airlines,” joked “The Late Show” Stephen Colbert about the deal Thursday.
However, Spirit has expanded quickly and profitably by offering cheap tickets to vacation spots that can sometimes cost less than a trip to the movies or a few hamburgers. The airline’s “Big Front Seat,” however, offers 36 inches of legroom for an additional $250.
As the two separate airlines move forward with their plans to combine, here’s what passengers can expect:
What are JetBlue’s plans for Spirit?
JetBlue wants to get bigger, and Spirit has the planes and pilots to help it do that. Read also : Mild travel restrictions in China due to Covid are still the toughest in the world. The New York-based carrier plans to revamp Spirit’s planes in the style of JetBlue, ditching the packed seats for a more spacious layout with more amenities.
Combined, the airlines will become the fifth largest carrier in the country, behind American, Delta, United and Southwest. Both have a large presence in Florida and each has expanded into Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean in recent years. JetBlue last year started flying to London.
The two carriers will continue to operate as separate airlines until the deal is completed, which is subject to regulatory approval. Then, passengers could get confused if they fly on Spirit planes that haven‘t been retrofitted.
JetBlue has some experience with such situations because of its alliance with Northeastern American, which allows carriers to sell seats on other people’s planes. Last year, JetBlue revamped its website to better highlight differences in onboard features like business class seats or free Wi-Fi.
Despite the comedians’ digs, Spirit has improved its reliability in recent years — and fared better than JetBlue by some measures.
JetBlue came in last among 10 airlines in on-time arrivals this year through May, while Spirit ranked seventh, according to the latest available data from the Department of Transportation.
So far this year, a third of JetBlue flights have been delayed and 4% have been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware. In comparison, just over a quarter of Spirit’s flights arrived late and 2.7% were canceled.
JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes says improving reliability is a priority. The carrier scaled back growth plans, saying it did not want to stretch its crews and other resources.
“A bigger JetBlue that is late is not a better JetBlue,” said Henry Harteveldt, a former airline executive and founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry consulting firm.
Is this the end of cheap fares?
The Biden administration has promised to take a tough stance on both consolidation and inflation, so the demise of an ultra-low-cost airline could be a tough sell. This may interest you : Travel July Fourth weekend can be ugly. Here are 5 ways to prepare..
“Spirits may not be an elegant experience, but they are cheap,” said William Kovacic, a professor at the George Washington School of Law and a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. “If they disappear as an independent business … does that remove a source of downward pressure on the price?”
But JetBlue’s Hayes says the airline needs to grow quickly and better compete with the big airlines that control more than three-quarters of the U.S. market. Hayes argues that a larger JetBlue would mean relatively lower fares to more destinations.
Like some of the airline giants, JetBlue has already added some low fares that mimic carriers like Spirit. Those tickets also don’t come with seat assignments or other perks that were once standard with a bus fare.
But JetBlue’s business model of offering more comfort costs more than Spirit’s, meaning it probably won’t offer as many of the rock-bottom prices that Spirit does.
Frontier Airlines, meanwhile, has already said it is happy to take a bigger share of the ultra-low-cost market after its Spirit deal fell through. Shortly after the airlines announced the end of their agreement, Frontier projected that it would grow 30% next year and began a fare sale with 1 million seats for $19 each.
The airline would become the largest discount carrier in the United States if Spirit is ultimately acquired. Others include Allegiant and Sun Country.
“This just gives us a tremendous amount of breathing room for growth,” said Frontier CEO Barry Biffle. “That’s why this is such a windfall for our employees and our shareholders.”
When is this happening?
Not immediately. JetBlue and Spirit expect the deal won’t receive regulatory approval until late 2023 or early 2024, then close in the first half of 2024. Read also : American Airlines glitch leaves thousands of key unmanned flights.
Integrating airlines is a long and expensive process. For example, flight attendants United and Continental didn’t even fly together until eight years after the airlines merged in 2010.
Retrofitting aircraft can still take years, and JetBlue could not begin this process with Spirit’s fleet until at least 2025. But the airline notes that it recently equipped more than 100 of its Airbus planes with new interiors.
“We have a lot of recent experience in terms of doing that,” Hayes said.
