Frontier offered for a third time to take over struggling competitor Spirit Airlines, but the budget airline said no deal.
Spirit will continue on its own plans to get out of bankruptcy and firm up its finances.
Frontier had offered Spirit shareholders $400 million in debt and a 19% stake in its parent company, The Associated Press reported.
In all the deal was estimated to be worth about $2.16 billion, Reuters reported.
“We remain convinced that the combination of Spirit and Frontier would have created more value than Spirit’s standalone plan,” Frontier said. “That said, we are disciplined acquirors and are focused on delivering for Frontier shareholders at a time when our airline is performing well in a dynamic market environment.”
Spirit said the proposal from Frontier was less beneficial than the stand-alone plan it had in place already, Fox Business reported.
Spirit had a counter proposal for Frontier, which was rejected, Spirit said in a news release.
A second deal made by Frontier was rejected by Spirit in January almost immediately after being offered. Frontier first tried to merge with Spirit in 2022. That time JetBlue outbid Frontier, but the Justice Department blocked the deal, saying that the $3.8 billion agreement would have made flying on the budget airline more expensive, the AP reported.
After a federal judge agreed with the DOJ, the merger was eventually dropped.
Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection in November and expects to reorganize the company by the end of the first quarter. A hearing on the plan is set for Thursday, the AP reported.
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