The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has blocked JetBlue Airways’ $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines.
The court found that JetBlue’s proposed takeover of Spirit is unlawful because it “does violence to the core principle of antitrust law: to protect the United States’ markets – and its market participants – from anticompetitive harm.”
The court’s decision follows a 17-day trial that began in October 2023. In March 2023, the Justice Department, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and the District of Columbia sued to stop the merger under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
