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Jetblue/Spirit Merger Concept Liveries


Jetblue/Spirit Merger Concept Liveries

Now that Spirit and Jetblue have confirmed their intentions to merge, I wanted to write about how it could play out and create two concept liveries.

After terminating the deal with Frontier Airlines, Spirit and Jetblue approved a plan to merge and retain the Jetblue brand. What followed was a strict regulatory review needed to approve the merger. Many analysts expressed concerns that the acquisition was used to remove a competitor. Others said that it would bring the Northeast Alliance into question. What followed were lawsuits to prevent the merger, most notably from Frontier, which had sued Jetblue for the aggressive takeover.

Finally, on December 3rd, 2022, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission approved the merger. Jetblue began promoting the merger through advertisements, sporting the slogan, "Better Together, Bluer Together." N4062J, now newly delivered to the airline, was painted in a promotional livery. This aircraft would sport the livery until January 2025, when it was repainted into a standard livery. Repainting of the Spirit fleet began in February 2023 and efforts Spirit Airlines would take its final flight on March 15th, 2024, as Flight 1992 from Tampa to Las Vegas. The two airlines' operating certificates were merged shortly after.

The fleet integration went very well. Both airlines operated A320 aircraft and thus were compatible with each other. However, Spirit operated A319s and Jetblue did not, opting instead for E190s and A220s. It was decided that the A319 aircraft would immediately replace half of the outgoing E190s and expedite fleetwide retirement for the final date of late 2025. They would then be phased out by A220s. N515Nk was the first A319 repainted and transferred to Jetblue and would leave the fleet in 2029.

Labor relations would be strained post-merger. Spirit had a different corporate culture than Jetblue; the employees were generally younger and the culture was a lot more relaxed. This clash of culture resulted in a clash of employees and several lawsuits from the pilot union against Jetblue. These issues would die down slightly by the end of the decade.

The Jetblue route map was changed drastically. The airline now had a large presence in Florida and Las Vegas, as well as a new foothold in the Midwest. The airline made cuts to the former Spirit route map, however. Atlantic City was completely dehubbed and abandoned, leaving a vacuum at the airport.

Overall, the merger of Jetblue and Spirit was regarded in the industry as a means of removing a competitor. It was the earliest example of US airline consolidation that decade, with other examples being American's acquisition of Alaska Airlines, as well as Southwest/Avelo and Frontier/Allegiant.



    the end got kind of dark

    the end got kind of dark

    i am crying rn, the death of atlantic city left me in tears :sob: 

     

    plot twist is 9.5/10, rip avelo

    Beautiful livery! There is something about those squares that feels very "New York". I love the detail in the story. This is all despite the fact that it would be a terrible idea in real life. And that ending was pretty dark to me too.