22.06.2022 - 23:41 UTC
JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) has once again improved its offer to buy Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int'l) in its latest effort to fend off rival Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver Int'l), as the two would-be suitors fight to secure a fast track to expansion amid resurgent air travel demand across the United States despite labour and aircraft shortages.
Following Frontier Airlines Holdings’ initial proposal in February, JetBlue sought to outbid this offer and has sweetened its bid three times since. It has now raised it to USD33.50 per share, up from USD31.50 two weeks previously, in what it called “a decisively superior proposal” to acquire all of Spirit’s outstanding common stock, it outlined in a statement on June 20.
Spirit revealed last week that it was in talks with JetBlue about the terms of its proposal and could vote on any new proposal by June 30.
Besides the improved cash offer, the terms - which JetBlue said are “structured to maximise value and certainty...
07.06.2022 - 01:06 UTC
The tussle to acquire Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int'l) has intensified again in recent days, with JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) sweetening its offer for the smaller rival budget carrier on June 6 in an attempt to derail a competing offer from Frontier Airlines parent Frontier Airlines Holdings.
Last month, JetBlue offered USD30 per share in cash to Spirit shareholders in a hostile takeover bid for the airline. Now, in an "all-cash premium" offer, it has upped the proposal to USD31.50 per share in cash, an offer that comprises USD30 per share in cash at the closing of the transaction plus a prepayment of USD1.50 per share as a reverse break-up fee, which would be paid soon after shareholders vote to approve the deal.
Coming ahead of a shareholder vote on June 10 on a competing offer from Frontier, JetBlue claimed it was offering Spirit stockholders "demonstrably superior value, more regulatory protections, and the prepayment of a portion of cash consideration."
Spirit had rejected JetBlue's previous offer because...
17.05.2022 - 22:16 UTC
JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) has initiated a hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int'l), two weeks after the Floridan ultra-low-cost carrier rejected an enhanced offer from its bigger New York-based rival.
JetBlue Airways Corporation subsidiary Sundown Acquisition Corp said in a filing on May 16 that it was offering to buy all of the outstanding shares of the ULCC’s common stock for USD30 per share in cash. Its earlier offer was USD33 per share. It also filed a proxy solicitation opposing Spirit’s planned merger deal with Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver Int'l) parent Frontier Airlines Holdings.
In an open letter to Spirit’s shareholders on the same day, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said it was “fully prepared to negotiate in good faith a consensual transaction at USD33, subject to receiving necessary diligence.”
However, even the new proposal “represents a 60% premium to the value of the Frontier transaction as of May 13 - a very compelling offer and higher than the premium implied by JetBlue’s original...
13.05.2022 - 02:33 UTC
Norse Atlantic Airways (N0, Oslo Gardermoen) has opted against operating passenger services at Newburgh (New York Stewart) in the United States for the time being because the prerequisites are not yet in place for it to carry cargo, it has told local newspapers in the US.
The low-cost transatlantic start-up applied last year to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct services from Oslo Gardermoen to Newburgh, which lies about 100 kilometres north of Manhattan, as well as to Ontario in the Los Angeles area.
In January, it was cleared to provide passenger services at US airports, including Newburgh. However, by May, it had switched to New York JFK, with its first commercial flight now scheduled to depart from Oslo bound for the primary New York City area hub on June 14, initially 2x weekly, then daily from July 4.
In a statement to the Mid Hudson News and later to the Westchester County Business Journal, Norse Atlantic said: “We are eager to commence operations to SWF...
Editorial Comment: Clarified title and intro - 13.05.2022 - 08:51 UTC
