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That’s the spirit.
A top Biden official has all but admitted that the Democratic administration’s Justice Department sealed Spirit Airlines’ fate when it rejected a merger request — and suggested it was the wrong choice after the ultralow-cost airline shut down Saturday morning.
Neera Tanden, who previously served as a senior advisor to former President Joe Biden, wondered whether a merger could have prevented the mass job losses.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), meanwhile, tried to blame Spirit’s failure on President Trump — only to be called out for helping to kill the tieup with JetBlue.
“Given the news today that Spirit Airlines is shuttering and thousands of people are losing their jobs, I think we should honestly assess whether the Garland DoJ stopping the JetBlue merger with Spirit Airlines was the right call,” Tanden wrote in a viral post on X.
“Perhaps it was, but any analysis must consider as part of the equation the loss to so many families to decide.”
Spirit Airlines, which employed some 17,000 people, formally shuttered its operations on Saturday after bailout negotiations broke down.
In addition to eyeing a merger with JetBlue, it had also once been in talks with Frontier Airlines amid its financial woes, which were seemingly exacerbated by the war in Iran that caused a surge in jet fuel prices.
The Biden administration’s Justice Department, under then Attorney General Merrick Garland, had fought against New York-based JetBlue’s bid to purchase Spirit Airlines for some $3.8 billion.
“The Justice Department proved 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 a court sided with the DOJ against the merger. “We will continue to vigorously enforce the nation’s antitrust laws.”
Tanden, a staunch progressive, made clear that she still pins more of the blame on President Trump, who mulled a $500 million bailout deal.
“Lord, of course Trump’s war was the Spirit Airlines killer here. I am simply asking if we should assess all evidence,” she said after her post went viral.
Meanwhile, Warren took heat online for her 2024 post cheering the Biden admin’s halt to a JetBlue merger with Spirit, arguing that such a deal “would have led to fewer flights and higher fares.”
“This is a Biden win for flyers!”
While Spirit Airlines was circling the drain last week, Warren underscored how consolidated the airline industry is.
“The Big Four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the U.S. market. Fewer choices = higher prices for you,” she posted on X.
That drew a community note highlighting how she strongly opposed the JetBlue merger proposal with Spirit Airlines, which could have saved Spirit and made JetBlue stronger.
The Massachusetts progressive contended that high fuel prices from the war in Iran “was the nail in the coffin for twice-bankrupted Spirit airline.”
“[The] JetBlue merger failed because a judge, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said the deal was illegal. Republicans are desperate to shift blame from higher costs hitting families,” Warren argued.
She previously faulted Trump for starting the war in Iran, which caused oil prices to surge, for Spirit Airlines collapsing.
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