A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday blocked the planned merger of Spirit Airlines ($SAVE ) and JetBlue Airways ($JBLU (+0,71 %) ) valued at 3.8 billion US dollarsr blocked.

The decision was made due to concerns regarding restrictions on competition and rising air fares, which the US Department of Justice agreed with.

The shares of Spirit Airlines plunged by 47% while those of JetBlue rose. JetBlue had already announced in July 2022 the takeover which would have created the fifth-largest airline in the USA.

The Justice Department had announced in March 2023 due to competition concerns lawsuit filed due to competition concerns. To counteract these concerns JetBlue in June 2023, JetBlue sold all Spirit shareholdings at LaGuardia Airport to Frontier
Airlines ($FNT ).

In addition JetBlue in September 2023 with Allegiant ($ALGT (+2,52 %) ) on the transfer of Spirit interests at various airports. Approval was expected before yesterday's decision in the first half of 2024.