Spirit Airlines’ shareholders will finally get to vote on the airline’s future on 19 October
Spirit named the date in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Approved by Spirit’s board, shareholders will vote on whether to accept the deal for New York-based JetBlue to buy Spirit.
If approved, it would bring to an end a long saga which saw it cancel four shareholder meetings due to competing offers by JetBlue and Frontier Airlines.
Spirit’s board had from the outset supported a merger with Frontier Airlines but it couldn’t sway shareholders.
Even with shareholder approval, it is not a done deal.
Federal antitrust regulators are expected to look very closely at it, as it will create the fifth-largest airline in the US.
Spirit’s support of Frontier was due what it saw as an easier path to regulatory approval.
