In travel news for May 16, 2022 we have an update on the Spirit - Frontier merger, more pressure the Biden administration, and the sudden flight cancellations out of Jamaica.
JetBlue and the Spirit - Frontier Merger
We talked in February about Frontier Airlines making an announcement that they were purchasing Spirit Airlines for $ 2.9 billion in cash and stock, later JetBlue Airways came out of nowhere with an all cash offer of $3.6 billion. Spirit declined the offer from JetBlue citing legal and regulatory concerns, and continued with the Frontier offer. In another unexpected twist, JetBlue recently announced that they will be filing a “Vote No” proxy statement to urge shareholders go Spirit Airlines to vote against the Frontier merger. With this JetBlue moves towards a hostile takeover of the budget airline.
U.S. Pre-Departure Testing
U.S. Airlines are continuing to pressure the Biden Administration to drop the pre-departure testing requirement for all International passengers coming into the United States. Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and others have already dropped the covid entry requirement for Air Travel. And it’s not just U.S. Airlines, back in May 260 different travel associations and travel companies sent a letter to the Biden Administration urging for the removal of this restriction. So far the Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not given any updates on if or when the pre-departure testing requirement could be removed.
Flight Cancellations in Jamaica
On Thursday of last week air traffic controllers in Montego Bay, Jamaica went on Strike. Many flights to and from the island were canceled, flights that were en route were diverted to Miami or turned back. Airport operations resumed 7:00 am on Friday and airport staff and airlines worked hard over the weekend to clear the backlog of passengers. Many airlines are reporting that they are currently operating as usual. The strike was caused by a months long dispute with the Ministry of Finance over salary negotiations. Jamaica is currently seeing large scale Protests by public sector workers however at the moment it doesn’t look like they will be affecting travelers.