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An American Airlines Group Inc. alliance with JetBlue Airways has placed the majority of flights by US carriers at New York’s primary airports into the hands of two major airlines, an executive from rival carrier Spirit Airlines testified Thursday. Spirit objected to the partnership between American and JetBlue, known as the Northeast Alliance, in January 2021, filing its concerns with the US Department of Transportation. That initial complaint helped lead to a federal antitrust lawsuit, which now seeks to undo the agreement. John Kirby, Spirit’s vice president of network planning, said the budget airline’s opinion of the alliance hasn’t changed. “JetBlue is in essence now a feeder airline for American and will do what American wants it to do,” he said in federal court in Boston. “American is giving them hundreds of millions of dollars in slots and access to the world’s largest frequent flyer program.” Hanging over the trial is JetBlue’s planned $3.8b acquisition of Spirit, which must also pass antitrust muster before it’s final. Kirby wasn’t asked about Spirit’s pending purchase in his testimony. A lawyer for the Justice Department testified Tuesday that the acquisition would allow American “to co-opt two disruptive competitors for the price of one.” JetBlue’s all-cash bid derailed a planned merger of Spirit and Frontier Group Holdings Inc., which would have combined the nation’s two largest ultra-low cost carriers.<br/>

Finnair will cut up to about 200 jobs globally in a move to restore profitability shattered by the Russian airspace closure, the Finnish airline said on Tuesday, having decided earlier in the month to reduce its fleet. Negotiations will start on Oct. 6, Finnair said, potentially leading to a reduction of up to 120 positions in Finland alone.<br/>