JetBlue-Spirit Deal Challenged by Passengers, Attendants (1)

A group of consumers and flight attendants sued JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines Inc., seeking to halt their planned $3.8 billion merger over concerns that it would eliminate one of the country’s last major discount air carriers.

The antitrust lawsuit, filed late Thusday, seeks an injunction permanently blocking the planned transaction, which would merge Spirit into JetBlue, allegedly giving the combined airline a chokehold over certain routes that neither one currently dominates.

“The nation would not only lose the competition of Spirit, but also the potential competition that JetBlue would provide by building its own national presence the ...