Spirit Airlines shareholders face much-delayed merger vote

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

Spirit Airlines shareholders could pick a preferred buyer for their airline Wednesday, when they are scheduled to vote on one of the offers for the budget carrier. Shareholders appear to be leaning against the bid preferred by Spirit’s board, a merger offer from Frontier Airlines that is currently worth more than $2.6 billion. Four previous votes have been postponed for lack of support. If shareholders reject the Frontier bid it would push Spirit to reach an agreement with JetBlue Airways, which made an all-cash offer of about $3.7 billion. Either combination is expected to create the nation’s fifth-largest airline, although still quite a bit smaller than American, United, Delta and Southwest.