Airlines

Biden Killed the Spirit Airlines Merger. Now Trump Wants Taxpayers To Save the Company.

A merger with JetBlue could have saved the company. Instead, taxpayers will now be forced to pick up the bill.

Joe Lancaster | 4.23.2026 1:00 PM

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(Illustration: Palinchak/John Poltrack/Dreamstime/Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/TNS/Newscom)

President Donald Trump is reportedly set to add an airline to the stable of private companies he's demanded the government take a piece of.

"The Trump administration is in advanced discussions with budget carrier Spirit Airlines about a bailout," CBS News reports. "The financing package could include a loan of up to $500 million, in exchange for warrants that would allow the federal government to take a potentially substantial ownership stake in the beleaguered airline." A source told NBC News the government could end up owning as much as 90 percent of the company.

Americans should oppose any bailout of a private company with public funds—not to mention the government taking an ownership stake. But this one is especially galling, because Spirit had a lifeline: Competing airline JetBlue agreed to buy the struggling company. But Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, killed the deal in court.

Now, as both companies struggle, Trump is expending further taxpayer funds to bail out a private company that could have been saved before.

In July 2022, the companies announced that JetBlue would acquire Spirit, famous for its low fares........

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