For the past eight years, in fact, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have been the will-they-or-won’t-they couple of the airline industry, having repeated merger discussions

Frontier Airlines is exploring a revived bid for Spirit Airlines Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported. The budget carriers recently held talks, though discussions are at an early stage and may not lead to a deal, the WSJ said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The carriers have held early-stage deal discussions, as Spirit continues negotiations with bondholders over possible bankruptcy terms.