Don’t put taxpayers on the hook for subsidizing low-budget airlines
The article discusses how government intervention in the airline industry, particularly the Biden administration's block of Spirit Airlines' merger with JetBlue, contributed to Spirit's financial decline and potential liquidation. The Trump administration is now considering a taxpayer-funded bailout of Spirit, prompting other low-cost airlines to seek federal aid as well. The piece argues that such interventions distort market dynamics, create moral hazard, and ultimately harm both taxpayers and consumers.
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The downfall of Spirit Airlines has mushroomed from a routine business failure into a far messier test case against government intervention in the free market. The unfortunate series of Spirit’s government-facilitated events began three years ago, when the Biden administration blocked Spirit’s merger with JetBlue on the grounds that absorbing a low-cost carrier would reduce fare competition and raise prices. That decision removed what was, at the time, the company’s most viable path to stability.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Washington Examiner.
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