CDC Lowers Travel Restrictions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its warning against traveling to several countries this week, including some popular tourist destinations like Canada and Saint Lucia.
Overall, the agency reclassified 14 destinations as “Level 3,” indicating a “high” level of COVID-19 transmission, but not telling people to avoid traveling there altogether. Each of these destinations was previously classified as “Level 4.”
The destinations now designated as a “Level 3” are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Iran, Libya, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, and Suriname.
The CDC considers a destination “Level 3” if there are 100 to 500 cases reported per 100,000 people over the past 28 days. The agency recommends people are “vaccinated and up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before traveling” to destinations listed as “Level 3” and “avoid” traveling there if they are not.
JetBlue Buys Spirit Airlines
JetBlue has stunned aviation industry analysts with an announcement that it plans to acquire ultra-low-cost rival Spirit Airlines in an all-cash buyout that would value Spirit at $33 per share. Spirit is already in the process of being acquired by Frontier in a friendly merger that would create the 5th largest airline in the United States.
Following a New York Times story, JetBlue publicly confirmed it had submitted to takeover proposal to the Spirit Airlines board which it claims is “superior” to the proposal submitted by Frontier.
JetBlue said it plans to fully integrate Spirit into its own brand, leaving analysts scratching their heads about how JetBlue would reposition itself among rivals. Serious questions remain over how such a proposal would clear anti-competitive hurdles imposed by the feds.
