Transportation Secretary Duffy Blames Biden Team for Spirit Airlines Collapse After Blocked Merger

Spirit Airlines' sudden collapse has left thousands of passengers and employees scrambling. The Trump administration now blames a blocked Biden-era merger, saying the carrier might have survived without government intervention.

"History has now said it was the wrong decision," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday. "The DOJ should not have pursued litigation against the merger and, again, you wouldn't have what's unfolded today."

On "Fox & Friends," Duffy recalled how his predecessor, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, celebrated blocking the merger. Buttigieg told CNN in 2023 that the Department of Transportation's hands-off history was changing. He praised the effort to stop the deal as a way to give passengers choices, access to low fares and sustained competition.

"But I agree with him in the sense that we do want choices. We do want competition," Duffy said. "That gives us the best price as consumers. But he made the wrong call. If he had taken a deep dive into Spirit and into JetBlue, he would have seen that that merger would have been better for customers, and he still said no to it."

Duffy criticized the Biden administration's ideology, focusing on the merger and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that conservatives continue to oppose.

Some lawmakers who pushed to block the merger, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blame the Trump administration for Spirit's failure. They cite higher fuel costs from the Iran conflict as a complicating factor.

Duffy rejected that argument. "I love that they try to play revisionist politics, they try to come after Donald Trump again. What do they want? A nuclear Iran?" he asked. "They're blaming fuel prices, but you and I both know that Democrats love higher energy prices. They've fought for four years to give us higher energy prices," he added, noting high fuel costs in California. "Now they're trying to blame Trump, who wanted American energy dominance?" he said, calling it "insanity."

Spirit halted all flights and shut down other operations early Saturday morning, displacing nearly 17,000 employees. Federal officials and other airlines stepped in to help affected passengers.