A federal court has blocked the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger.
In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge William Young concluded that the merger, which would fold ultralow-cost carrier Spirit into higher-cost JetBlue, would substantially harm competition, at least in some markets.
The ruling is a victory for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, which brought the case last March.
"Throughout trial, the government invoked the experience of the average Spirit consumer: a college student in Boston hoping to visit her parents in San Juan, Puerto Rico; a large Boston family planning a vacation to Miami that can only afford the trip at Spirit's prices," Young wrote in the 109-page order. "It is this large category of consumers, those who must rely on Spirit, that this merger would harm; the defendant airlines, though exceedingly well-represented, simply cannot demonstrate that these consumers would avoid harm."
Young also wrote that if the merger were allowed as proposed, "it would further consolidate an oligopoly by immediately doubling JetBlue's stakeholder size in the industry. Worse yet, the merger would likely incentivize JetBlue further to abandon its roots as a maverick, low-cost carrier."
In a joint statement, JetBlue and Sprit said they disagree with the ruling.
"We continue to believe that our combination is the best opportunity to increase much needed competition and choice by bringing low fares and great service to more customers in more markets while enhancing our ability to compete with the dominant U.S. carriers," they said.
They added that they are evaluating their next steps as part of the legal process.