Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
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Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#2Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#3If Alaska acquires Hawaiian then this would have to be decided ultimately by SCOTUS right? I would think these two cases are too similar and there needs to be some fairness and consistency in the rulings.
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#4If Alaska acquires Hawaiian then this would have to be decided ultimately by SCOTUS right? I would think these two cases are too similar and there needs to be some fairness and consistency in the rulings.
I'm probably oversimplifying, but Alaska + Hawaiian creates a larger regional competitor to e.g American, United, and Southwest on a more local scale where most of their routes are complimentary (the two weren't substantially competing; Alaska offers a handful of CONUS to Hawaii routes, whereas Hawaiian offers CONUS as well as international routes to/from Hawaii), whereas JetBlue acquiring Spirit consolidates nationwide low-cost carriers and reduces low-cost competition
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#5If Alaska acquires Hawaiian then this would have to be decided ultimately by SCOTUS right? I would think these two cases are too similar and there needs to be some fairness and consistency in the rulings.
I'm probably oversimplifying, but Alaska + Hawaiian creates a larger regional competitor to e.g American, United, and Southwest on a more local scale where most of their routes are complimentary (the two weren't substantially competing; Alaska offers a handful of CONUS to Hawaii routes, whereas Hawaiian offers CONUS as well as international routes to/from Hawaii), whereas JetBlue acquiring Spirit consolidates nationw…
It would probably still have an effect of raising prices for flights to/from Hawaii no?
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#6This is a bad ruling, Spirit is likely to go under without acquisition. Neither firm had particularly large share of market.
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm probably oversimplifying, but Alaska + Hawaiian creates a larger regional competitor to e.g American, United, and Southwest on a more local scale where most of their routes are complimentary (the two weren't substantially competing; Alaska offers a handful of CONUS to Hawaii routes, whereas Hawaiian offers CONUS as well as international routes to/from Hawaii), whereas JetBlue acquiring Spirit consolidates nationw…
It would probably still have an effect of raising prices for flights to/from Hawaii no?
Possibly, but it's not as abrupt and obvious as with JetBlue/Spirit, who both compete in the exact same market in modestly different ways. Alaska and Hawaiian have limited regional overlap with flights from certain west coast cities to certain islands, but beyond that, Alaska would be getting Hawaii's entire international route network and tying it in with their entire CONUS domestic route network.
The more interesting transaction that arguably should've been stopped was Alaska purchasing Virgin America as they were both largely west coast airlines. But amazingly enough (as someone who held status on VA and later Alaska), my flights actually got cheaper after that merger, and I was consistently upgraded too. So if that merger hadn't happened, my experience would've been worse.
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#8This is a bad ruling, Spirit is likely to go under without acquisition. Neither firm had particularly large share of market.
So its a good decision ... For the large airlines.
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#9This is a bad ruling, Spirit is likely to go under without acquisition. Neither firm had particularly large share of market.
If this is true, then this is probably a great ruling for JetBlue; they can buy up the scraps at bankruptcy if Spirit liquidates.
Re: Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines
#10Read the ruling and arguments on both sides here:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66962142/united-states-...