JetBlue ups offer for Spirit Airlines as shareholder vote on Frontier bid nears

The shareholder vote for the merger of Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines came just days before the vote.

On Friday, Frontier increased its offer. Ted Christie told CNBC that the deal to combine with Frontier was a better option than the one to go with JetBlue.

The vote on the Frontier deal will be held on Thursday, but the vote on the Spirit deal was put off earlier this month.

The fifth- largest US carrier would be created by either combination. At a time when planes and pilots are in short supply, the heated bidding war shows how important Spirit is to both airlines.

It was argued that the deal wouldn't pass muster because of its alliance with American Airlines.

The revised proposal will include a monthly payment for shareholders with the certainty of a significant cash premium at closing.

If regulators don't approve the deal, the reverse break-up fee will be raised to $400 million from $350 million, and a dividend of $2.50 a share will be added.

Aticking fee of 10 cents a share would be paid to shareholders every month until the deal is completed or terminated.

In after-hours trading, the shares of Spirit were up 5%, while the shares of JetBlue and Frontier were down. The shares of the two companies fell in regular trading.

On Friday, Frontier increased the cash portion of its bid by $2 a share to $4.13 and raised its reverse break-up fee proposal to $350 million.

Barry Biffle said that Frontier had the most compelling offer for shareholders. Biffle is in New York where he is going to meet with shareholders of the company.

The airlines didn't comment on the new offer.