Spirit Airlines to buy Air Jamaica

[T-Bird76]

Spirit Airlines to buy Air Jamaica: report
NEW YORK (Marke****ch) -- The owners of discount-carrier Spirit Airlines will purchase Air Jamaica, renaming the money-losing government-owned carrier Spirit of Jamaica, according to the Jamaica Gleaner. Indigo Partners and Oaktree Capital have reportedly bought the airline for an undisclosed sum, according to unnamed sources, the newspaper said. Sources close to the negotiations would only confirm that Trinidadian-owned Caribbean Airlines did not win the bid for Air Jamaica. The Jamaican government wants to privatize the airline.

[Matt Molnar]

Wow, kinda bizarre.

[MarkLawrence]

Whooaaaa.....and I thought Spirit was in financial difficulty! I guess not!

[Matt Molnar]

Whooaaaa.....and I thought Spirit was in financial difficulty! I guess not!

All of Air Jamaica's planes are leased, so I guess it didn't require much cash up front. But renaming seems like an awful idea. Why throw away 40 years of brand recognition to start from scratch? What are they even paying for then?

[T-Bird76]

Whooaaaa.....and I thought Spirit was in financial difficulty! I guess not!

All of Air Jamaica's planes are leased, so I guess it didn't require much cash up front. But renaming seems like an awful idea. Why throw away 40 years of brand recognition to start from scratch? What are they even paying for then?

Spirit is already very well known in the Islands and has a very large network down there so this will be a nice expansion to those routes. It also gives them a hub in the Islands which will alow them to flow traffic into their U.S network. Might not be a bad buy.

[hiss srq]

Well there goes the neighborhood. I hope there is not much product change between now and my trip back down in Aug. R.I.P. To an awesome airline.

[PhilDernerJr]

This is surprising to me because Spirit has been having their own trouble, mostly because I didn't know they would have the cash for something like this.

I also wonder if they'll be able to light a fire under AJM's butts to create a strong and solid operation.

http://nycaviation.com/2009/07/07/spiri ... r-jamaica/