Ex-Biden executive all but admits boss killed Spirit Airlines by rejecting JetBlue merger
That’s the spirit.
A senior Biden official acknowledged that the Democratic Justice Department sealed the deal for Spirit Airlines when it rejected a merger request — and suggested it was the wrong decision after the high-cost airline was shut down Saturday morning.
Neera Tanden, a former senior adviser to former President Joe Biden, questioned whether the merger would have prevented mass job losses.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), at the same time, tried to blame the failure of Air on President Trump – but was called to help kill the tieup with JetBlue.
“Given the news today that Spirit Airlines is shutting down and thousands of people are losing their jobs, I think we need to take an honest look at whether the Garland DoJ stopping the JetBlue merger with Spirit Airlines was the right call,” Tanden wrote on the X blog.
“Perhaps it was so, but any analysis must be considered as part of the calculation of the loss of many families that must be decided.”
Spirit Airlines, which employed about 17,000 people, officially closed its operations on Saturday after bailout negotiations broke down.
In addition to looking at a merger with JetBlue, it has held talks with Frontier Airlines amid its financial problems, which appeared to have been exacerbated by the war in Iran that caused the price of jet fuel to rise.
The Justice Department of the Biden administration, under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, fought New York-based JetBlue’s bid to buy Spirit Airlines for about $3.8 billion.
“The Justice Department testified in court that a merger between JetBlue and Spirit would have caused tens of millions of travelers to face higher fares and fewer choices,” Garland said after the court sided with the DOJ against the merger. “We will continue to strictly enforce the nation’s antitrust laws.”
Tanden, a staunch progressive, has made it clear that he still puts another charge on President Trump, who brokered a $500 million bailout deal.
“Lord, of course Trump’s war was the killer of Spirit Airlines here. I’m just asking that we examine all the evidence,” he said after his letter was published.
Meanwhile, Warren sparked outrage online with his 2024 post cheering for the Biden administration’s suspension of the JetBlue and Spirit merger, saying such a deal “would have led to fewer flights and higher fares.”
“This is a Biden victory for the flyers!”
When Spirit Airlines circled the canal last week, Warren emphasized how tight the airline industry is.
“The big four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the US market. Fewer options = higher prices for you,” he wrote in X.
That drew a public note highlighting how strongly he opposed a proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which would have saved Spirit and made JetBlue stronger.
The Massachusetts progressive argued that high fuel prices resulting from the Iran war were “nails in the coffin of Spirit’s double loss.”
“[The] The JetBlue merger failed because a judge, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said the deal was illegal. “Republicans are eager to shift the blame from the high costs that are hitting families,” Warren said.
He previously accused Trump of starting a war in Iran, which caused oil prices to rise, due to the collapse of Spirit Airlines.
