Airline unions favor Spirit-Frontier merger

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA who represents Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines flight attendants said on Tuesday they backed the two carriers’ planned merger; this clears a big obstacle in the two airlines merging. The union said it reached a so-called merger transition agreement with Frontier that prohibits the furloughing of flight attendants during the merger, this is in addition to guaranteeing other protections.

In a statement Sara Nelson AFA’s president said: “We support the necessary regulatory approvals that will improve competition, increase consumer options and experience, and maintain and grow good union jobs,”

This comes a day after JetBlue Airways launched a hostile takeover bid for Spirit. The airline rejected JetBlue’s original offer of $33 per share all-cash bid earlier this month, JetBlue made a tender offer on Monday for $30 per share. Spirit shareholders are scheduled to vote June 10 on the Frontier or JetBlue deals, the Frontier deal is favored by the Spirit board. JetBlue is urging Spirit shareholders to vote against Frontier’s offer.

It is important to note that even when Spirit has made a decision on which offer to accept the deal is still subject to Justice Department approval which seems less likely for the JetBlue deal because of its alliance with American Airlines in the Northeast.

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