JetBlue has been losing money for years — it hasn't made a profit since before the pandemic in 2020 — and earlier merger attempts either failed or were blocked by the courts as anti-competitive.

The airline's debts mounted rapidly, to more than $8 billion. At one point the airline even mortgaged the value of its frequent flyer program, selling $2 billion in bonds against that program to raise cash. Then came the Iran conflict and skyrocketing fuel prices, that pushed JetBlue's debt to nearly $9 billion.

Earlier this year, about the time that Spirit Airlines failed, JetBlue was facing a cash crisis. The airline collateralized about 22 of the planes it owned to secure around $500 million in desperately needed operating capital. At the time, the airline announced that infusion meant JetBlue could continue to operate through the end of this year. But then, the airline lost $566 million in the first half of this year alone.