JetBlue Spirit Anti-Trust Trial Ends – What's Next for the Airlines?

Image: Spirit Airlines Airbus A319. (photo courtesy of Spirit Airlines)

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 6:35 PM ET, Wed December 6, 2023

The monthlong antitrust trial over whether JetBlue and Spirit should be allowed to merge wrapped up today with the federal judge overseeing the case indicating that the deal may ultimately be allowed to proceed.

U.S. District Judge William Young said JetBlue would need to divest more assets if the $3.8 billion merger were allowed to take place, according to a report from Reuters.

Young also said that airline fares would likely rise if the merger takes place and eliminates Spirit’s no frills, low-cost ticket offerings that have historically “undercut everyone else” and drove down prices.

Young also told those involved in the case that he was having “trouble” with the Justice Department’s effort to permanently block the deal in what the judge called “a dynamic industry facing unique opportunities and challenges in the post-COVID” world.

The non-jury trial will be decided solely by the judge, who mentioned that further divestitures by JetBlue might be required. JetBlue has already said it would sell-off gates and slots in New York City, Boston, Newark, New Jersey and Fort Lauderdale, Florida in order to make the deal more palatable to U.S. regulators.

At the courthouse today in Boston, lawyers for both sides provided their closing arguments.

The trial was prompted by the a challenge to the merger leveled by the Justice Department along with six U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The complaint filed against the merger called it unlawfully harmful to competition in the airline industry.

Though its too soon to jump to conclusions about how the judge may rule, Young stressed that his comments and questions were not meant to signal which way he was leaning.

Justice Department attorney Edward Duffy meanwhile, maintained today that nothing other than a full-stop injunction of the merger would restore competition.

President Joe Biden has sought to maintain competition within the airline industry, particularly among the lowest cost airlines.

However, JetBlue has maintained that the merger would be pro-consuer and would allow JetBlue to become more of a disruptor in the industry as a low-cost airline itself.

Currently, United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines control 80 percent of the U.S. domestic market. Combined, JetBlue and Spirit only control about 8 percent, Reuters reported.

It remains unclear when a decision on the case will be issued by Young.