American Airlines, JetBlue head to court in antitrust battle against US enforcers

Federal antitrust attorneys head to court Tuesday against American Airlines Group and JetBlue, challenging a joint venture the government alleges amounts to an illegal merger in all but name. The trial, expected to last through mid-October, will determine the future of the American and JetBlue partnership, which allows the airlines to share flights and customers. It may also affect JetBlue’s $3.8b proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines, which must pass muster with antitrust authorities before it is final. This is the first US challenge to an airline partnership since President Joe Biden called out the industry in July 2021 as among those where consolidation has reduced competition. The challenge is one of several the Justice Department has filed in the past year along with high-profile lawsuits against proposed mergers in book publishing and the health insurance industries. The DOJ is under pressure to have something to show for its trust-busting efforts after the collapse last week of two of its cases, one targeting UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s $7.8b acquisition of Change Healthcare, and a second between two of the US’s largest sugar refiners. The stepped-up scrutiny follows years in which federal regulators routinely approved airline consolidation, aided by a series of bankruptcies, that eliminated five of the 10 biggest airlines between 2005 and 2013. Concerns over too much control in some markets most often have been settled through agreements to shed gates or flight slots in congested airports.<br/>