Spirit Airlines Inc. said Thursday its board has unanimously determined that JetBlue Airways Corp.’s $30-a-share cash offer is not in the best interest of the airline and its shareholders and is urging the latter to reject the tender launched by JetBlue earlier this week. “In its comprehensive analysis, the Board determined that the JetBlue transaction faces substantial regulatory hurdles, especially while the Northeast Alliance (“NEA”) with American Airlines remains in effect, and is, as a result, not reasonably capable of being consummated and is not superior to Spirit’s agreed merger transaction with Frontier .” Spirit had already reiterated earlier in May its support for the merger deal with Frontier Group Holdings Inc., that it had agreed before JetBlue swept in with an offer. The airline said it does not believe that a deal with JetBlue would be approved by the regulator. Spirit shares were down 1.7% premarket, JetBlue was down 0.3% and Frontier was down 3.6%. The U.S. Global Jets ETF has fallen 7% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has fallen 17.7%.
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