Donald Trump‘s Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy saddled the responsibility for Spirit Airlines’ failure on Joe Biden‘s administration, blaming the former President for the company’s recent dissolution. Duffy’s criticism comes after Trump made an unsuccessful attempt last week to prevent the organization from shutting down.
Donald Trump’s administration blames Joe Biden for Spirit Airlines move
On May 2, Sean Duffy spoke to reporters at Newark Liberty International Airport. During the conversation, he blamed the Joe Biden administration for Spirit Airlines’ downfall.
The ex-NASA administrator argued that the company collapsed after Biden disallowed a proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit.
Duffy stated, “Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, along with the Biden DOJ, decided that they did not want that merger to take place.” “And at the time, the Biden and Buttigieg DOJ bragged and said as they canceled the option for this merger, that this was a victory for US travelers, who deserve lower prices and better choices,” he added, as per The Mirror.
Describing Biden’s decision to block the merger as a “disaster,” Duffy continued, “This is not better for pricing. This is not better for competition. Actually, it’s worse.”
He further noted, “If the markets are saying there needs to be a merger because there’s health issues with one of the airlines or more than one airline, we have to take a look at it and make sure we make the right choices,” adding, “In this situation, history has judged the denial of the merger between JetBlue and Spirit through the Biden administration with a view that it was a massive mistake.”
Spirit Airlines’ collapse can be attributed to several reasons. This includes rising costs after the COVID-19 pandemic and pilot shortage. Nevertheless, CEO Dave Davis has also cited Donald Trump‘s war on Iran as a contributing factor. Davis claimed that inflated fuel prices due to the Middle Eastern conflict restricted the company from getting back on its feet.
Duffy simply rebuffed these remarks, stating Spirit Airlines has been in “dire straits” for a long time. “Their model wasn’t working. They couldn’t get to fiscal health…The war was not the impetus for Spirit,” he said.
Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on Mandatory.
