Spirit Airlines is opposing United Airlines and JetBlue Airways’ “Blue Sky” partnership, claiming the proposed pact is a “coordinated oligopoly masquerading as competition.”
The Florida-based discounter desires the U.S. Department of Transportation to open a public docket and review the loyalty and joint ticket gross sales parts of the partnership, it stated in a regulatory submitting Tuesday. Spirit argued that what United and JetBlue suggest would quantity to the latter turning into a “de facto vassal of United.”
“This anti-competitive tie-up involving a dominant legacy carrier will neutralize the competitive benefit of an existing low-fare competitor (JetBlue), will raise fares, and will tend to weaken other value airlines, such as Spirit and others, by siphoning off customers attracted by access to the United loyalty program,” Spirit stated.
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United and JetBlue unveiled the distinctive Blue Sky partnership in May. A substitute for JetBlue’s failed Northeast Alliance with American Airlines, the tie-up focuses virtually fully on loyalty by offering members of United’s MileagePlus and JetBlue’s TrueBlue packages reciprocal advantages on both airline. It additionally consists of gross sales of each airways’ flights on both provider’s web site, each United and JetBlue adopting a number of the different’s expertise, and, in 2027, United’s return to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) with slots supplied by JetBlue.
“United’s global reach perfectly complements JetBlue’s East Coast leisure network, and significantly expands the options and benefits for TrueBlue members,” Joanna Geraghty, the CEO of JetBlue, stated when the deal was introduced.
And she is correct — the partnership will present TrueBlue members with considerably extra utility by opening United’s total world community, which is 4 occasions the dimensions of JetBlue’s by flight numbers.
United’s MileagePlus program would additionally acquire extra relevancy in key markets, together with Boston and Florida, the place the airline is a small participant.
That joint profit would come on the expense of opponents like Spirit.
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Analysis: Why I’m enthusiastic about United and JetBlue’s new partnership, and the place there’s room to develop
The discounter had sought to merge with JetBlue solely to see the deal blocked on antitrust grounds by a federal decide. That ruling was adopted by a Chapter 11 chapter submitting by Spirit in November 2024, from which it emerged this March as a considerably smaller airline.
But, as Cranky Flier creator Brett Snyder just lately advised Raymond James’ Savanthi Syth, Frontier Airlines and Spirit act as primarily “spill carriers” — or people who decide up what visitors is left over from bigger, legacy or midmarket airways — as a consequence of their broad route map overlap and poor buyer notion.
That leaves an airline like Spirit in an unenviable aggressive place within the U.S. market, and one which may very well be additional pressured by a United-JetBlue partnership.
Spirit is the sixth-largest airline by seats in New England and New York, with simply a 2.7% share in June, schedule knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium reveals. United is the second largest, with a 17% share, and JetBlue is third, with a almost 15% share.
The DOT will weigh Spirit’s request for a public docket and review of the Blue Sky partnership.
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