Spirit Airlines finds itself with few options after judge blocks deal with JetBlue

Spirit Airlines faces tough choices about its future including looking for another buyer and finding other ways to shore up its finances after a federal judge on Tuesday blocked its $3.8b merger deal with JetBlue Airways, industry experts said. The ultra low-cost carrier has been struggling to return to sustainable profitability amid rising operating costs and persistent supply-chain problems. That has raised concerns about the company's ability to repay its debt that is due to mature next year. The airline this month completed a series of sale and leaseback transactions covering dozens of planes in a bid to repay about $465m of debt on those jets. But with a recovery in earnings not in sight, some analysts said the company might consider a bankruptcy filing to clean up its balance sheet and reorganize into a financially stronger airline. Helane Becker, airline analyst at TD Cowen, said Spirit is likely to look for another buyer, but that a more likely scenario is a Chapter 11 filing, followed by a liquidation. She said the recent capital raise has given the company funds to self-finance a potential Chapter 11 filing. "We recognize this sounds alarmist and harsh," Becker said. "But the reality is we believe there are limited scenarios that enable Spirit to restructure."<br/>