WP: Collapse Of Spirit Airlines Pretty Much Biden’s Fault

I love how the Washington Post Editorial Board portrays this in the headline

The U.S. government killed Spirit Airlines

If you didn’t actually read the article you would think this was Trump’s fault

The rising price of jet fuel might be the final nail in the coffin for Spirit Airlines, but its final resting place was built by the U.S. government three years ago when it sued to block the budget carrier from being acquired by JetBlue. In the name of protecting competition, the Biden administration ensured there will be less of it. (snip)

This sad ending could have been averted if the Justice Department hadn’t moved to stop JetBlue from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion. Spirit was losing money but not on the brink of collapse. The deal was a lifeline, and the combined carrier would have been better positioned to compete with the majors.

Instead, a federal judge sided with the government in January 2024. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland called it “yet another victory for the Justice Department’s work on behalf of American consumers.” But consumers cannot choose to fly an airline that does not exist.

It really was a case of “not every merger/acquisition being bad for consumers because the market shrinks”, but, the Biden DOJ didn’t consider what the outcomes would be. And now, will Spirit be swallowed up by Jet Blue or another carrier, or, just have their assets sold off? Can they come back from Chapter 11? Airlines shut down all the time. They merge. Where’s Midway? Where is Northwest Orient? And so many more?

This is a common consequence of antitrust enforcement. The government winds up picking winners and losers by pursuing companies for primarily political purposes. Politicians figure they win populist points, but the people they claim to represent end up suffering in the end.

It’s a problem when so many of the politicians and the big wigs in positions of power in federal agencies are lawyers or something else which has nothing to do with business, and do not understand the consequences. Or just do not care.