JetBlue said its proposed merger with Spirit Airlines (SAVE) will have a "pro-competitive impact" on the airline industry as it awaits a US Department of Justice (DOJ) decision on whether it will challenge the deal.
"JetBlue is over 3x more effective than Spirit at bringing down competitor fares. JetBlue’s unique combination of low fares and great service is a competitive force that keeps the legacy carriers on their toes and results in lower fares", the carrier said in a March 6 statement.
"With the scale unlocked by combining with Spirit, JetBlue will be able to bring down legacy carrier fares on more routes, benefitting more travellers than if JetBlue and Spirit continued as standalone airlines," the carrier added, amid whispers in the industry that the DOJ was set to effectively block the merger on the grounds that the two carriers are competitors and therefore their merger would be anti-competitive.
JetBlue's statement claims that the two carriers compete against the big four US carriers, rather than each other, meaning the merger would enhance competition by adding a fifth major carrier to compete with Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines, which together have "a lock" on around 80% of the US market, according to JetBlue.
"A combined JetBlue and Spirit will have only about 9% market share, compared to about 16-24% for each of the four largest airlines, but the added scale and ability to further grow will result in meaningful competition on more routes," JetBlue claimed.