Frontier/jetblue/ Spirit tussle
Barry Biffle is juggling his day job as CEO of Frontier Airlines while also working to complete a merger with Spirit Airlines that would create the nation’s fifth-biggest carrier by some measures.
Those plans were complicated on April 4, when Jetblue made its own $3.3 billion bid for Spirit, which was higher than Frontier’s $2.9 billion bid in February.
Frontier did not make Biffle available after the Jetblue announcement. In an interview days earlier, Biffle discussed regulatory review of the Frontier-spirit merger proposal, travel demand and other topics with The Associated Press.
Where is travel demand now?
We have gone from possibly the worst revenue period at the beginning of Q1, in January and February, to one of the best sales periods. Fare levels and total revenue per passenger in the early March time frame exceeded 2019 levels — over $120 per passenger. COVID has held everyone back, but eventually after two years, it would appear people are ready to get back to their lives.
Is it hard to schedule the right number of flights?
While (demand) is great, it’s still not great in all the off-peak periods. While Fridays and Sundays are great, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not so much. While spring break-easter is still great, I don’t yet know how the first two weeks of May are going to be, I don’t yet know how the first two weeks in June are going to be.
On the proposal, are you and Spirit talking to antitrust regulators?
We have started the process and it’s a very normal process so far. This is going to take to the end of the year to complete. They have questions, and we will deal with them in due course.
Do you have any reason to think they will challenge the merger or require divestitures?
We haven’t heard anything like that.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and other members of Congress asked the administration to examine the deal closely. Does that worry you?
They didn’t come out opposing it. They are asking the administration to look into if this is going to raise fares to consumers. I understand their concern ... many of the mergers that have created the big four in the United States (American, Delta, United and Southwest) caused some challenges for people. I think as they see the facts, they are going to see that (the Frontier-spirit deal) is good for consumers.
Let’s say the deal gets approved. What is this new, combined airline going to look like in five or 10 years?
In a few years, I think we’ll have nationwide notoriety as the place to go for low fares and best value.