The merger of Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines was called off on Wednesday, opening the way for another airline to acquire the company.

Spirit Airlines aircrafts are shown at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.

There are planes at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Getty Images

Christie said that the best path for the company and its stockholders will be pursued.

The vote on the Frontier merger was supposed to be announced before the end of the year, but it wasn't.

If Spirit acquires another company in the next year, it will owe Frontier an additional 69 million dollars.

In a statement to Forbes, the airline said it is "pleased that the merger agreement with Frontier has been terminated" and that it remains "fully committed to completing this transaction."

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Frontier went public a year ago. The low-cost airline industry would be consolidated by the merger of the two airlines. In May, the board of Spirit rejected a previous all-cash offer from JetBlue and recommended that shareholders approve the merger with Frontier. JetBlue tried to take over Spirit. The airline said that the offer was a cynical attempt to disrupt the merger of the two airlines. Barry Biffle, the CEO of Frontier, said earlier this month that his airline was not close to getting the support of the shareholders.

Tangent

It doesn't mean that JetBlue will go through even though Frontier's agreement with SPIRIT is dead. The partnership with American Airlines at Boston and New York airports is the subject of a lawsuit by the Justice Department.

A proposed merger has been called off.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the end merger agreement.

The merger agreement with Frontier was marred by a competing bid.