JetBlue Begins New Offensive in Spirit Bid
JetBlue Airways is attempting a hostile takeover of Spirit after its original merger option was declined by Spirit’s board in favor of the proposal from Frontier.
Spirit’s reasoning for passing on the more lucrative offer from JetBlue was its expected difficulty in receiving regulatory approval from the DOJ in part because of JetBlue’s extensive Northeast AAlliance with American. JetBlue says that’s garbage and is now appealing directly to the shareholders with a reduced offer of $30 per share. It will go up to its original $33 per share if the board stops blocking access to information. Spirit shareholders don’t intend to even consider the offer until JetBlue pays up on Spirit’s $399 hostile takeover fee.
JetBlue also filed a “vote no” proxy statement imploring Spirit shareholders to vote against the proposed merger with Frontier. Spirit will vote on Frontier’s offer via a shareholder meting on June 10. When asked if it would match the break-up fee, Frontier declined to answer but did show an album of cute animal photos taken from the tails of its aircraft.
United: Where Good Leads the Way
United Airlines unveiled its first national brand campaign in nearly 10 years on Monday entitled “Good Leads the Way.” If it sounds familiar and you can’t quite place why… this is very similar to Delta’s short-lived and long-derided “Good Goes Around” campaign from the 2000s.
The campaign features more than 150 unique pieces of content featuring more than 60 real-life employees and countless fake employees. There is a primary 60-second spot that will air onboard its aircraft, in airports, and on TV in some markets which United says features the true story of an airline on a mission to be a true force for good. That’s followed by several 15-second spots highlighting different aspects of its service including star employees, saved connections, and updated “Next” interiors.
What United did not highlight in the ad campaign is the airplanes that have their engines fall off during flight, the absurd cost of Economy Plus upgrades, or anything to do with Newark. Unfortunately, Dr. David Dao’s appearance in the ad campaign was left on the cutting room floor, and the carrier chose not to highlight its one-time service from Newark to Columbia, SC for reasons that were not confirmed by the airline.
Frontier’s Latest Frontiers Won’t Include Delaware
Frontier Airlines will end its 3x-weekly service from Wilmington, Delaware (ILG) to Orlando just 15 months after launching service to Delaware’s only commercial airport. The end of the flight to Orlando will once again leave Delaware as the only U.S. state without regularly scheduled commercial air service.
Seven airlines have tried to serve ILG over the years and none of them have lasted very long. The state is too close to Philadelphia to the north and Baltimore to the south to truly warrant its own air service. Frontier originally flew from the airport between 2013 and 2015 operating to Chicago/Midway, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers.
The late Shuttle America flew to Hartford, Buffalo, and Norfolk in the late ’90s before pulling out about two years after service began. Delta operated twice-daily regional service to Atlanta beginning in the summer of 2006 – at the time the first commercial service at the airport in six years – but it lasted just barely a year before DL pulled out. With Frontier leaving and Delaware not having any schedule service, it seems inevitable that it’ll stay that way until perhaps a stiff breeze blows into the state sometime in the future.
- Aeroflot used a loophole in the EU’s sanctions against Russia to purchase eight A330s.
- Condor‘s new CFO is Björn Walther who shockingly never worked for Norse Atlantic.
- easyJet is offering £1,000 bonuses for flight attendants who don’t quit their jobs this summer.
- Finnair is announced catering updates for its business class and premium economy cabins.
- GOL will have a new CEO to take it through its potential merger with Avianca as Celso Ferrer take the role, effective July 1.
- Jet Airways completed the first set of three proving flights as it moves closer to its relaunch.
- Loganair is suspending service between Isle of Man and London/City for two weeks.
- Royal Jordanian is now buddies with SKY express.
- Ryanair is expected to exceed pre-pandemic capacity and fares this summer, according to Ryanair.
- Ural Airlines furloughed 931 employees.
- Virgin Atlantic is wet-leasing an A321-200 freighter from Titan Airways this summer.
- Virgin Australia received temporary authorization to begin a codeshare agreement with United.
- Vistara could merge with Air India. It also could not.
What do you call a factory that makes products that are just OK?
A satisfactory.