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Spirit Airlines Rejects JetBlue Bid, Sticks With Frontier Deal

Spirit Airlines Inc. rebuffed a $3.6 billion cash takeover bid from JetBlue  Airways Corp., saying a deal likely can’t be completed, and it is sticking with plans to merge with rival budget carrier Frontier Group Holdings Inc. 

JetBlue’s offer for Spirit came with a higher price tag than Frontier’s cash-and-stock offer, which was originally valued at $2.9 billion. However, Spirit’s board said it believed there was too much risk that regulators would bar a merger with JetBlue, even after JetBlue pledged to shed assets to win regulatory approval and to pay a $200 million breakup fee if it was unable to complete the proposed acquisition for antitrust reasons.

“After a thorough review and extensive dialogue with JetBlue, the Board determined that the JetBlue proposal involves an unacceptable level of closing risk that would be assumed by Spirit stockholders,” Spirit Chairman Mac Gardner said Monday.

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Qantas Plans Nonstop Flights to Australia From New York, London

SYDNEY—Australia’s biggest airline, Qantas Airways Ltd.,  said it would order dozens of planes from European maker Airbus SE,  including new aircraft to fly nonstop between Australia’s cities and destinations in the U.S. and the U.K. that currently require a layover.

Qantas said the new ultralong-haul, nonstop flights, dubbed Project Sunrise, would start from late 2025 and would at first connect Sydney with London and New York. The airline said the flights will try to build on the success of existing direct long-haul services, demand for which has increased following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Qantas currently flies nonstop from Australia’s east coast to cities such as Los Angeles and Dallas, but New York is too far, and its service to London flies through Darwin, a city on Australia’s northern coast. Qantas conducted research flights a few years ago to test how passengers fare on ultralong-haul routes, with one flight between New York and Sydney taking more than 19 hours.

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FAA Says It’s Working With Airlines to Ease Florida Flight Disruptions

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is working with airlines to ease mounting air-traffic problems in Florida, where bad weather and staffing shortages have snarled flights as demand for air travel in the state surges.

The FAA said it would increase air-traffic-control staffing and tweak flight practices to address the strains, after meeting with about a dozen airlines, small-plane operators and aviation groups.

More-frequent thunderstorms in Florida, which has a large population and popular vacation spots, have disrupted flights in recent months, and some airlines have said they are sharing airspace with more space launches from Kennedy Space Center, located along the Atlantic in central Florida.

Excerpt from WSJ Podcast Series
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Ukraine War Forces Airlines to Adjust Flight Paths

Avoiding the huge Russian airspace is likely to increase costs for passengers and cargo, further snarling global supply chains. Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Katz tells WSJ What’s News host Sandra Kilhof why flying around Russia may be problematic.

Excerpt from WSJ Podcast Series
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