US case against American Airlines and JetBlue heads to court

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

DALLAS (AP) — The government’s antitrust lawsuit against American Airlines and JetBlue begins Tuesday and the outcome could determine how closely the Biden administration examines other airline deals, including JetBlue’s pending attempt to buy Spirit Airlines. The Justice Department and six states are suing American and JetBlue to break up their partnership in the Northeast, namely New York and Boston.

It is a significant test of the administration’s opposition to mergers — even though the American-JetBlue partnership is not a full merger. The government argues that the alliance will reduce competition and lead to higher fares. The Trump administration approved the alliance, but the Justice Department began taking a closer look shortly after President Joe Biden took office.

American and JetBlue will argue that the partnership has already been in effect for about 18 months and has allowed each airline to offer new routes that would not be economical for either on its own. They say there is no evidence that the deal is hurting consumers. Current and former airline CEOs are among the possible witnesses identified by prosecutors and lawyers for the airlines. Delta Air Lines is attempting to keep two of its most senior executives from being called to testify, saying they are too busy in Atlanta to attend the trial in federal court in Boston.

U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin has set aside nearly three weeks for the trial. There will be no jury. Sorokin could take weeks or even months to issue a decision, which is likely to be appealed by the losing side. When the Justice Department filed the lawsuit a year ago, Attorney General Merrick Garland called the American-JetBlue alliance “an unprecedented maneuver” that would lead to higher fares, fewer choices, and poor service for travelers.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-travel-boston-lawsuits-airlines-c38e0b8a4dc75408d3a990df8336f166

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If this doesn't get halted, we will eventually be left with "The Airline®".

[elleng]

1. Excellent!

Anti-trust enforcement is a CRITICAL part of lowering prices, for EVERYthing! Been hoping for a long time we'd get back to enforcing these laws.

*The Justice Department seems to be expressing buyer’s remorse about many previous airline mergers that went largely unchallenged. Those deals eliminated Continental, Northwest, US Airways, AirTran, TWA and other airlines, and they led to the downgrading of once-bustling hub airports including St. Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Consumer advocates say those mergers have led to higher prices and lower service, particularly from the four biggest airlines: American, Delta, United and Southwest.

“They have gotten too big to fail and too big to care,” said Bill McGee of the American Economic Liberties Project. “We feel that there should be a moratorium on all mergers in the airline industry until (federal regulators) go back and look at all the negative effects of all the consolidation.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said last week that a lack of competition caused the widespread flight problems that aggravated travelers this summer.

“Americans are beyond furious about cancellations and delays by airlines, and they are beginning to understand that the reason why airlines mistreat them and why they are mismanaged is because of consolidation,” he said.'