A monthslong effort by Frontier Airlines to acquire Spirit Airlines abruptly ended on Wednesday when the companies called off their proposal, giving new life to a rival bid for Spirit by JetBlue Airways. The announcement came shortly before Spirit was to announce the results of a shareholder vote on Frontier’s acquisition offer. Spirit had repeatedly delayed the vote as it sought to persuade shareholders to support the deal and ignore the allure of the more valuable JetBlue offer. The airline industry consolidated a lot in recent decades, creating four dominant airlines. For Frontier and JetBlue, buying Spirit has represented an opportunity to expand quickly and gain heft to lure business away from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. But either merger is bound to face legal challenges from the Biden administration’s antitrust regulators, who have pledged to be tougher than their predecessors on mergers that may reduce competition. “While we are disappointed that we had to terminate our proposed merger with Frontier, we are proud of the dedicated work of our team members on the transaction over the past many months,” Ted Christie, Spirit’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Moving forward, the Spirit board of directors will continue our ongoing discussions with JetBlue as we pursue the best path forward for Spirit and our stockholders.” Frontier’s cash-and-stock deal was worth about $2.8b, based on Wednesday’s closing stock price. JetBlue’s all-cash offer is worth $3.6b. Frontier said it was disappointed that Spirit’s shareholders had not rallied behind the deal. The airline, which has aggressively expanded since going public last year, said it was poised for growth, nonetheless. JetBlue said in a statement that it would continue negotiations with Spirit and remained “fully committed to completing this transaction so we can create a compelling national challenger to the dominant airlines.”<br/>
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Frontier Group, parent of Frontier Airlines, posted record revenue growth during the second quarter as demand for discount travel booms. The Denver-based carrier reported revenue of $909m, 43% more than in the corresponding pre-pandemic quarter in 2019, and also more than the $550m the airline notched in the same quarter in 2021. That translated into a $13m profit during the three-month period, which ended on 30 June. In the same quarter one year ago, Frontier posted a $19m profit when including federal payroll support. Without the support, the company would have lost $50m. In pre-pandemic 2019, Frontier’s profit for the same quarter was $79m. “Results this quarter reflected exceptionally strong demand for affordable airline travel as we realised record revenue growth compared to any pre-pandemic quarter and record high ancillary revenue of $75 per passenger, both of which contributed to Frontier’s first profitable quarter on an adjusted basis in over two years,” says Barry Biffle, Frontier’s chief executive. “The demand environment is strong going into the third quarter, and we continue to focus on generating profitable growth in the business for the balance of 2022 and beyond.”<br/>
Federal officials say that Southwest Airlines and the union representing its pilots have resisted cooperating with investigations into accidents and other incidents and pushed to close the matters quickly. In one instance disclosed Wednesday, the FAA cut short an investigation of a 2019 incident in Connecticut even though the agency determined that there was pilot error. Both wings of the Southwest jet were damaged as pilots battling wind tried to land at Bradley International Airport, outside of Hartford. The FAA said Southwest and union officials resisted interviews with agency representatives in that and other cases. Sometimes the delaying tactics worked. An investigation into why pilots placed duct tape over sensors outside a plane before a flight fizzled when the FAA employee took another job. Neither Southwest nor its pilots’ union responded immediately to requests for comment. The FAA investigation was disclosed Wednesday by the US Office of Special Counsel, which represents federal whistleblowers. It reported another accident — a plane that went off the runway in Burbank, California — in which an FAA review was “fast-tracked” under pressure from Southwest. In a separate review of that incident, the National Transportation Review Board found that the co-pilot’s conduct was “highly unprofessional.” The FAA said it agreed with some of the allegations raised by three whistleblowers and took corrective steps including more training and development of audits to ensure compliance with aviation-safety guidelines. The special counsel’s office investigated eight allegations raised by four whistleblowers. The office forwarded its findings to the White House and Congress. In a response to the special counsel’s office, the FAA said it found “mismanagement and lack of oversight” by the office monitoring Southwest that has persisted despite management and staff changes over the years. The FAA said new executives will provide “a fresh opportunity to evaluate” the oversight of Southwest.<br/>
Ryanair's Spanish cabin crew union members plan strikes on four days of every week until January to press demands for higher pay and better working conditions, a leader of the USO union said on Wednesday. The strike action, which is also backed by the SITCPLA union, will take place from Monday to Thursday during every week from Aug. 8 to Jan.7, it said in a statement. Ryanair played down the likely impact of the strike action and said it expected minimal disruption in Spain this winter. "Recent strikes by USO/SITCPLA have been poorly supported with minimal effect," it said. Ryanair workers caused disruption at many Spanish airports during July, when they walked out for several days, mainly at weekends. However, the number of cancelled flights was limited compared to other countries where Ryanair staff have also gone on strike as Spanish regulationsrequire airlines and staff to maintain a minimum service.<br/>
Wizz Air said demand for travel was underpinning higher ticket prices, one positive in first-quarter results that revealed the impact of high fuel prices and disruption at airports across Europe on the low-cost carrier. Operating losses jumped to E285m in the three months to end-June from 109 million euros the year before, the London-listed airline said on Wednesday. But it expected to deliver a "material operating profit" for the second quarter as revenue and pricing momentum continued to improve and disruption at airports started to reduce. "We are seeing a very strong revenue pick up so we believe that there is a pricing momentum in the marketplace," CE Jozsef Varadi said in an interview. "We are seeing roughly around 10% uplift on revenue (versus three years ago), which is a significant gain versus what we saw in Q1. We believe that most of the pricing momentum is going to be maintained going into the second half of the financial year."<br/>
Nigeria's newly licenced national carrier will lease a mix of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, the aviation minister said on Wednesday. Hedi Sirika told reporters in Abuja after the plan was approved by cabinet on Wednesday that the airline will start with three aircraft.<br/>
India's aviation regulator on Wednesday ordered SpiceJet (SPJT.NS) to slash its approved fleet to 50% this summer for eight weeks citing safety snags and said it will subject the domestic airline to "enhanced surveillance". Any increase in number of departures beyond 50% would require the airline to show it has sufficient technical support and financial resources to safely upgrade its capacity, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in an interim order. "During (the) eights weeks period, the airline shall be subjected to "enhanced surveillance" by DGCA. Further decision in this matter shall be taken thereafter," the regulator said. Earlier this month, DGCA had issued a warning notice to SpiceJet after a review of incidents, which included a side windshield outer pane that cracked mid-flight and a malfunctioning indicator light. SpiceJet sought to reassure its customers and travel partners saying it will operate flights as per schedules and there will be "no flight cancellation as a consequence of this order."<br/>