Frontier CEO talks about airline merger, travel outlook

Barry Biffle is juggling his day job as CEO of Frontier Airlines while also working to save a proposed merger with Spirit Airlines that would create the nation’s fifth-biggest carrier by some measures. This figures to be a bounce-back year for airlines like Frontier that cater to leisure travelers. After two years of hunkering down during the pandemic, more people are flying. Biffle says the recovery in travel will enable his Denver-based airline to return to profitability this summer. And he’s puzzled by doubters, including investors who are shorting the stock — betting that the shares will fall in price. On the merger, Biffle says Frontier and Spirit are answering regulators’ questions, and he is not alarmed that several liberals in Congress are urging the Biden administration to take a close look at whether the deal will hurt consumers. The bigger obstacle to a Frontier-Spirit deal is JetBlue Airways, which made its own $3.6b bid for Spirit last week. JetBlue’s offer is higher than Frontier’s $2.9b bid, which was announced in February. Frontier declined to make Biffle available after the JetBlue announcement. Story features an interview days earlier, when Biffle discussed regulatory review of the Frontier-Spirit merger proposal, travel demand and other topics. <br/>