In travel news for May 24, 2022 we have good news from Spain, we take a look at the Cruise industry, and we have an update on the Spirit - Frontier - JetBlue saga.
Current State of the Cruise Industry
After yesterday’s news about Royal Caribbean now having their full 26 ship fleet in service we decided to share updates from a few other Cruise lines. Carnival Cruise Lines is currently sailing their 23 ship fleet, and was the first cruise line to reach the capacity mark. Both Seabourn, and Holland America are also operating their full fleets as of last week. Norwegian Cruise Lines plans on having all 17 of their ships in service by weeks end. MSC Cruises currently has all but one of their 19 ship in service, the final ship will enter service in June. And Princess Cruses is currently operating 80% of their fleet, with plans to have all ships in service by September. After a difficult 2 years, it looks like the cruise industry is finally getting back to full strength.
Spirit - Frontier - JetBlue Saga
Spirit Airlines continues to be the prize in a bizarre merger with Frontier Airlines. As we’ve previously discussed, shortly after the Frontier - Spirit merger was announced JetBlue came in with an unsolicited offer, which was later declined by Spirit. Since then JetBlue has been attempting a hostile takeover by first trying to get share holders to vote against the Spirit - Fontier merger on June 10th. The CEO of Spirit Airlines on a recent analyst call addressed the situation by stating that he expects the shareholders to vote in favor of the merger with Frontier. The surprising development is on the same call the CEO said that if the merger vote were to fail, then Spirit would continue to be a standalone airline. With JetBlue continuing to be aggressive, it’s uncertain if this would be the case. We will have more about this after the June 10th shareholder meeting.
Spain Updates Entry Requirements
This week Spain has loosened travel restrictions for travelers entering from outside the European Union. Unvaccinated travelers will now be allowed to enter Spain with only a negative covid test. Travelers can either get a PCR test within 72 hours of their departure, or a Rapid Antigen test within 24 hours of departure. Previously unvaccinated travelers from outside the EU needed to provide proof of full vaccination. Travelers will still need to fill put the SPTH Health Control Form. The current rule changes come as Spain is about to enter it’s busy summer travel season.