By Shivansh Tiwary
May 4 (Reuters) – Shares of Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways rose on Monday, after rival Spirit Airlines shut shop, fueling hopes the carriers can capture market share, control prices, and absorb displaced passengers.
JetBlue shares were up about 3%, while Frontier gained 6% in early trading.
The bankrupt carrier Spirit ceased operations on Saturday, becoming the industry’s first casualty tied to the Iran war, after failing to win creditor backing for a U.S. government bailout plan.
Spirit canceled all flights and began a structured wind-down, ending a 34-year run built on a no-frills model that lost appeal after the pandemic as more travelers opted for comfort.
Its exit could give rivals room to gain market share while easing the fare wars that have squeezed margins across the U.S. airline industry, particularly in leisure-heavy markets such as Florida.
Spirit had 4,119 domestic flights scheduled between May 1 and May 15, offering 809,638 seats, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Both Frontier and JetBlue once pursued Spirit, with Frontier moving first in early 2022 through a cash-and-stock merger deal.
JetBlue later outbid Frontier in a bidding war that ended in a $3.8 billion agreement, but the tie-up was blocked by a federal judge on antitrust grounds in January 2024.
FRONTIER, JETBLUE MOVE TO BENEFIT
Frontier, Spirit’s closest rival in the ultra-low-cost segment, had already been making gains in the Florida-based airline’s stronghold markets as Spirit cut capacity during its bankruptcy proceedings, picking up price-sensitive passengers.
JetBlue has also been gaining ground on overlapping routes and among travelers trading up from bare-bones flying, as it seeks to build Fort Lauderdale into its third major hub after New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Boston Logan Airport.
“We would view the Blue Sky partnership between United and JetBlue as best positioned to capture the (Spirit’s) revenue over time,” TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald wrote in a note.
While Frontier Airlines has the most direct overlap with Spirit and the most similar business model, we believe the Blue Sky loyalty utility is likely to have the more appealing value prop in markets like Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Newark among others, Fitzgerald added.
JetBlue moved quickly, unveiling plans to sharply expand at Spirit’s largest hub, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, with service to 11 new cities.
It also plans to offer interview opportunities to Spirit pilots and flight attendants for open roles.
It expects to operate nearly 130 daily departures from Fort Lauderdale this summer, marking the largest operation in the airline’s history from the airport – over 75% more daily flights than in 2025.
(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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