Jet Blue Airways just submitted an all-cash offer to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.6 Billion. This comes after there were talks that Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines were going to merge together to form one airline company, which would have made this merger the fifth largest airline.

Spirit commented on the offer, saying that it will “pursue the course of action it determines to be in the best interests of Spirit and its stockholders.”

Ever since there was consolidation in the aviation industry since the onset of COVID-19, the competition among airlines has only grown. In this day and age, airlines are competing not only on competition but are also competing on staff and availability as well.

JetBlue would acquire Spirit Airlines likely to broaden it’s inventory, increase employee count, and reduce their costs. Additionally, JetBlue has a large office in Florida which is around the same area as Spirit Airlines is headquartered.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes and COO Joanna Geraghty provided some input on the recent talks. “We can all agree that Spirit has a very different brand and product than JetBlue, and so at first glance you may not think we’d make a great pair…However, when you dig deeper, you’ll realize we could be a perfect match. After all, our strong belief has always been that Customers shouldn’t have to choose between a low fare and a great experience, and JetBlue is the only airline that offers both.”

After this proposal was brought to the general public, JetBlue’s shares closed about 7% below it’s stock price and Spirit Airlines skyrocketed over 22%.