JetBlue extends tender offer date for Spirit Airlines

(Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp said on Thursday it was extending the expiration date of its cash tender offer for Spirit Airlines Inc to July 29 from June 30, after sweetening its bid for the ultra-low-cost carrier earlier this week.

In the latest offer on June 27, JetBlue included a ticking fee of 10 cents per Spirit share, raising the deal value to $34.15 per share.

Spirit Airlines on Wednesday deferred a shareholder vote on Frontier Group Holdings Inc's merger offer for the budget carrier until next week.

Frontier also raised its bid for Spirit last week.

Both bidders see Spirit as an opportunity to expand their domestic footprints at a time when the U.S. airline industry is dogged by labor and aircraft shortages. Either of the deals would create the fifth-largest U.S. airline.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)