Frontier and Spirit airlines, the two largest low-cost carriers in America, have agreed to merge that would make them the fifth-largest airline. The boards of both companies approved the $6.6B deal over the weekend and would be structured with Frontier Airlines controlling 51.5 percent and Spirit 48.5 percent. Undetermined is the name of the combo-carrier and its HQ location. The chair of the new airline will be Bill Franke, current chair of Frontier and managing partner of its parent company Indigo Partners. Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit has been expanding over the last decade and plans to continue with Frontier. The deal is “centered around creating an aggressive ultra-low fare competitor,” said Spirit CEO Ted Christie in a media statement about the agreement. With both carriers flying only Airbus airplanes and neither dominating a particular market, a Spirit/Frontier merger makes sense on paper. Still, President Joe Biden's administration has made clear it will scrutinize potential mergers more aggressively. The carriers expect the deal to close in the second half of this year. (Source: NBC News 02/07/22) Frontier and Spirit to merge, creating America's fifth-largest airline (msn.com)
Regional Note: Among some of the regional airports from which Frontier flies are Jackson, Miss.; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; and Birmingham, Ala. Spirit Airlines also flies out of New Orleans and Nashville; and has multiple flights to the Caribbean and Mexico. Also both airlines fly the Airbus A330 family of jets built at the Airbus facility in Mobile, Ala.
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