Spirit Sets Date for Shareholder Vote on JetBlue Deal

After a five-month saga that dominated aviation headlines through the spring and much of the summer, Spirit Airlines shareholders agreed to sell the carrier to JetBlue Airways after spurning a merger with Frontier.

But the acquisition by JetBlue still needs approval by Spirit shareholders.

To that end, Spirit has set a date for its stockholder to officially vote on the sale. The meeting will take place on October 19, according to reports.

The Miramar, Florida-based Spirit said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that anyone who held stock in the airline as of Monday, September 12, is eligible to vote next month.

JetBlue and Spirit agreed to a $3.7 billion acquisition in late July, less than a day after Spirit shareholders rejected an offer to merge with Frontier Airlines. Frontier had a verbal agreement with Spirit that was made in February until JetBlue jumped into the fray in April with its own offer.

When JetBlue continued to up its offer in the ensuing two months, Spirit shareholders went with the deal that was $1 billion more than Frontier’s offer.

But getting approval from its own stockholder is just one part of the equation. The Spirit/JetBlue still must survive government regulatory and antitrust scrutiny, an original sticking point for Spirit’s upper management after the Department of Justice sued JetBlue and American Airlines over their Northeast Alliance deal.