Here’s Mayor Pete announcing the Biden administration’s decision to fight the Jet Blue and Spirit merger so they could protect consumers and ensure low fares. Now the airline doesn’t exist and passengers are stranded across the country. pic.twitter.com/u7TXdwG9vj
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 2, 2026
Mayo 3, 2026
Is the Biden administration responsible for the loss of Spirit?
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59 (na) komento:
Didn't Elizabeth Warren similarly celebrate at the time of this announcement?
Take a bow,
Senator !
Is the Biden administration responsible for the loss of Spirit?
In so many ways.
Yes, they are. Lizzy Warren has her hand in it too.
Buttigieg was so bad everyone knew who the Secretary of Transportation was.
Another epic failure by Pete. Lots of unemployed people and higher air fares because he wouldn’t do the right thing.
The Dems don’t do the hard work that math requires. And, of course, the Dems don’t understand market economics. I see the same thing when it comes to CAGW. Willful ignorance of the numbers.
And let’s not forget the billions automakers had to write off because Pete pushed them to build expensive and unwanted
EV’s onto the public.
Pete worked for McKinsey so he should have known the numbers.
But he’s immune from criticism by the Fake News because he’s glib and gay. Protected!
Fewer flights and higher fares with transportation reform was a green but not novel deal.
Another industry scalped, an flight aborted, with an insidious native choice.
And I think it was the Obama Administration that let Delta buy Northwest and United merge with Continental. It’s my recollection that both Continental and Northwest were much bigger than Spirit and were kind of profitable. Those mergers really hurt competition. I’m sure some Dems cashed in on approving those deals. The Northwest CEO got a big payday. I think he was a Dem.
Yes.
Next question?
Of course. And they are angry at the news it happened. Win win.
Doug Steenland got $18.3m for merging Northwest into Delta. Now a senior advisor at Blackstone. Easy Street.
My guess is Spirit hadn't donated enough to Democrats.
I don't think anyone in the Biden administration or Elizabeth Warren cared one way or the other about this -certainly not a concern for passengers, that's just laughable- so it has to be them acting on behalf of someone else who wanted this failure to happen. Cui bono? Did Spirit have desirable slots at certain airports that will now be up for grabs? Who gets the win here?
Elizabeth was gay with the announcement. Pete, too.
If Continental bought Aer Lingus, the new branding could be...
Oh, never mind.
The Biden administration was 4 years of malicious incompetence.
The ICC almost killed the railroad industry the same way by ignoring non-rail (and often government subsidized) competition, and either forcing healthy mergers to take on basketcases or delaying mergers that would have preserved infrastructure, in a similarly politicized process.
And let’s not forget what Biden and LightBringer have done to coal-fired power plants.
- Krumhorn
Frankly, I'm amazed at how low plane tickets are, given what's involved. Are rock bottom prices really the wisest goal in this industry?
Leftist Communist Socialist Democrats have ALWAYS been economic idiots.
14,000 people out of work thanks to ELIZABETH WARREN (D-commie money grubbing idiot)
"Peachy said...
14,000 people out of work thanks to ELIZABETH WARREN (D-commie money grubbing idiot)"
She's on social media blaming Trrump saying high gas prices doomed Spirit.
Would Jet Blue have survived higher fuel prices if it were saddled with Spirit's airplanes and payroll?
Scott Bessent just said on Maria’s show that “Pete Buttigieg was the worst Transportation Secretary in history.” FACT.
Pete achieved his goal of lowering airfares: Spirit tickets now cost $0! Only problem is they don't go anywhere...
I suppose it will surprise Althouse as much as Senator Faxahontas
Elizabeth Warren Killed Spirit Airlines and Now She’s Complaining About It
Democrats are all liars. They shit the bed - then blame others.
… Fauxahontas that economics does not bend to political ideology, any more than physics does.
Interesting that there are Democrats who think Pete Buttigieg is Preddrntial material. The asshole cannot even read a spreadsheet.
Warren and Buttigieg got wealthy “serving” the people of the United States. Maybe they should reach into their own pockets to help get the stranded Spirit passengers home.
It reminds me of AOC deciding Amazon shouldn't locate its HQ in NY: Ignorant, unserious dems making fateful decisions about hugely consequential things in pursuit of a soundbite.
And I think it was the Obama Administration that let Delta buy Northwest and United merge with Continental.
You are half right (which is pretty good for you). The Delta merger occurred under W. Don't forget that Eastern collapsed under Reagan.
Would Jet Blue have survived higher fuel prices if it were saddled with Spirit's airplanes and payroll?
No one thought Trump would start a pointless war with Iran that drove oil prices through the roof.
Spirit's planes and gates will not disappear. Either they will be sold off and reused by other airlines, or the entire Spirit business will be recapitalized and re-emerge with a new name.
Unfortunately, the recent jump in jet fuel prices negatively impacts the whole air travel business model. The transition will probably await some stability there.
It was predictable when the Jet Blue-Spirit merger was rejected (ostensibly to preserve competition) that Spirit would go under, and the competition wouldn't be preserved anyway. I think it's safe to assume that Jet Blue was a better judge of the outcome of the merger than Pete Buttigieg.
As for the impact of higher fuel prices, even the NYT reported a few weeks ago that higher fares were having only minimal impact on ridership, and that airline revenues were up.
"Spirit's planes and gates will not disappear. Either they will be sold off and reused by other airlines, or the entire Spirit business will be recapitalized and re-emerge with a new name."
And Spirit employees will be hired by other airlines.
Didnt the unions force the closure of eastern what did they get from that
Didn't Spirit charge like $5 to use the bathroom?
I am pleased that no taxpayers money will be used to bail out a low cost airline.
The planes can still fly, the mechanics can maintain them and the crews operate them. Let someone else run the show, and hopefully better. Where did this foolish idea come from that government has to get involved in every minor corporate and economic event?
My brother has been a senior executive at several major airlines and in the driver's seat of a small one.
To hear him explain airline economic models, hub and spoke systems, HR policies, and fuel cost strategies would be like listening to Al Gore explain global warming.
Ask him to tell you how it benefits the bottom line for Delta to charge a customer to fly nonstop RT from ATL to ZRH for $2,600 and sell the exact same flight for $1,467 if the customer originates in New Orleans. Seems like the guy in New Orleans gets a freebie from MSY to ATL and a discount of $1,200 on the ATL - ZRH flight. (price of flights found a few minutes ago on Google Flights).
Swear to God, he can explain why this makes perfect sense.
IMO, cheap airfares are what destroyed passenger rail in America, and resulted in airplane seats the size of sardine tins; populated mostly by seat mates who smell like the contents of sardine tins
"Spirit's planes and gates will not disappear. Either they will be sold off and reused by other airlines, or the entire Spirit business will be recapitalized and re-emerge with a new name."
That's all true, but it's likely a much messier and more costly resolution than the merger would have been. This is clearly a loss in value, as Spirit's shareholder now come away with nothing (and the creditors take a hit too).
The Biden administration is not wholly responsible but they sure didn't help...
Booty Boy was a bad ineffective mayor of a large town/small city. And he was as worse Secretary of Transportation. But boy howdy he checked the DEI box.
Freder wrote: “No one thought Trump would start a pointless war with Iran ….” It’s good to have Democrats here to remind us that they have no business running a country - or anything else.
https://x.com/LudwigNverMises/status/2050635177978958028
Central Planning ALWAYS Fails. Have your nanna sew it on a pillow...
Original Mike said...
...
And Spirit employees will be hired by other airlines.
Losing all their seniority in the process. Unionized jobs- seniority is very important. Why unionized employees don't do a lot of job hopping. They have to start at the bottom anywhere they hop to.
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” - Thomas Sowell
Spirit isn't the only one. A lot of small regional air cargo guys are headed for rough times.
As suggested above: either the planes and gates will be sold and repurposed, or the entire package will be reorganized, soon to appear as a newly recapitalized airlines (how about Resolve Air ?).
Hardly a tragedy.
Low cost airlines are a race to the bottom. One supplier will always try to undercut the others. Price is set by the marginal producer, in this case, negative prices. So when Sprint dies it will allow the others to survive by eliminating a competitor who will sell below cost. And also put some low cost 737’s on the used market. Like in a lifeboat, the first one to die allows the others to live.
If the little guys with the cheap fares can't get together then eventually all you've got are the big guys charging high prices (and before they go out of business, the cheap guys may start cutting corners in dangerous ways). But allowing the merger is taking a chance. Politicians and regulators would rather rely on the usual rhetoric.
The out that people like Elizabeth Warren (who celebrated the Biden Administration's killing the merger) and Neera Tanden (who now recognizes that the Biden administration that she was a part of made a mistake) was that the Iran War spike in petroleum prices put Spirit out of business. That's actually a fair point, but given the volatility of oil prices (and the Middle East) shouldn't the possibility of a price spike have been taken into account?
Good thing Buttigeg and Warren are Ds. Otherwise they might end up on the no fly list, like Biden did to Tulsi. Wrong think is the enemy of unity and muh democracy.
No one thought Trump would start a pointless war with Iran that drove oil prices through the roof.
So why haven't all the other airlines closed up shop?
O'Mike,
> . Are rock bottom prices really the wisest goal in this industr
No they are not, but I have a question: when was the last time you specifically sought out a higher priced seat order to aid in the long term survival of the industry?
"No they are not, but I have a question: when was the last time you specifically sought out a higher priced seat order to aid in the long term survival of the industry?"
I fly business class, because the cheap seats are excruciating. Recent trip to New Zealand we bought the highest-cost tier of business class because it was refundable. And yes, I do want the airlines to price their tickets so that they remain in business and their planes don't crash. That's more in my long term interest than saving money.
> because the cheap seats are excruciating
> because it was refundable.
Completely understandable, but also not quite responsive. The question is rather, given two acceptably non-excrutiating business class offerings, do you choose the higher priced one? Given two business class refundable offerings, do you choose the higher priced one?
My only point is I don't want airlines offering cheap tickets at the expense of neglected maintenance and operations. Maybe the cheapest airline going under isn't such a bad thing.
And all the Lefty's sang "dut dut duti dooo".
Democrats use the power of government like the Mafia uses molotov cocktails, to keep the grift going and to remind everyone "it'd be a shame if something happened to your business".
I understand Elizabeth Warren made an attempt to blame Spirit's demise on the War in Iran, i.e. Donald Trump's fault - and got promptly and thoroughly trashed for trying it on.
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