Buttigieg, Duffy spar over who’s to blame for Spirit Airlines collapse

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday pushed back on his successor, Sean Duffy, for blaming the Biden administration for Spirit Airlines shutting down all operations.

Duffy said Monday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” that Buttigieg “made the wrong call” in supporting the former administration’s push to block the acquisition of Spirit by JetBlue Airways. 

JetBlue abandoned that deal in 2024 after a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked it, citing violations of antitrust law. The Justice Department and various state attorneys general in 2023 sued to block the $3.8 billion deal under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.

When JetBlue dropped its bid to acquire Spirit, former Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the merger “would have caused tens of millions of travelers to face higher fares and fewer choices.”

Duffy said Monday that if Buttigieg “had taken a deep dive into Spirit and to JetBlue, he would........

© The Hill