Spirit Airlines terminated its merger deal with Frontier Airlines on Wednesday, and it has now officially confirmed its intention to merge with JetBlue.
The boards of directors of both carriers have approved a definitive merger agreement which will see JetBlue acquire Spirit for $33.50 per share in cash, including a prepayment of $2.50 per share once the Spirit stockholders approve the transaction. In total, the Spirit will be bought out for $3.8 billion.
It will create an airline with a total fleet size of 458 airplanes, overtaking the likes of Turkish Airlines and Air China to become the world’s 8th largest carrier by fleet size. In the United States, it will put the new JetBlue-Spirit in fifth place of the largest mainline carriers.
Robin Hayes, CEO at JetBlue, said, “We are excited to deliver this compelling combination that turbocharges our strategic growth, enabling JetBlue to bring our unique blend of low fares and exceptional service to more customers, on more routes.“