How Antitrust Populists Drove Spirit Airlines Out of Business

How Antitrust Populists Drove Spirit Airlines Out of Business

Antitrust populists claimed blocking the Spirit–JetBlue merger would protect competition and consumers. But their effort entirely misdiagnosed the problem with the airline industry, leading to an intervention that strengthened the very oligopoly they set out to fight.

When antitrust becomes ideological, we all pay the price

The DOJ blocked the JetBlue–Spirit merger in January 2024 on antitrust grounds. Now 17,000 jobs are gone, ~80 airports and hundreds of routes won’t be served, and consumers in smaller markets are left with fewer and more expensive options. The airline that pioneered budget travel in America and let millions fly who previously couldn’t afford to is liquidating (I ran simulations suggesting that, had the merger gone through, the added revenue scal…