JetBlue Airways has offered to buy Spirit Airlines for about $3.6 billion and break up a plan for Spirit to merge with rival budget carrier Frontier Airlines.
Spirit said Tuesday that it received an unsolicited bid from JetBlue. It said its board will evaluate the offer and decide what’s best for shareholders.
In a statement, New York-based JetBlue said combining with Spirit would lead to lower fares by creating “the most compelling national low-fare challenger” to the nation’s four biggest airlines: American, Delta, United and Southwest.
Frontier used that same argument in February to support its proposed acquisition of Spirit, saying that creating the nation’s fifth-biggest airline would save consumers $1 billion a year.
JetBlue offered $33 per share in cash, which it said puts a 37% higher value on Spirit than does the Frontier offer. However, Frontier’s bid would let Spirit shareholders keep 48.5% of the combined airline. Frontier said its cash-and-stock offer was worth $2.9 billion, although a dip in Frontier’s shares has reduced its value since February.