Will abandoning American help JetBlue's Spirit merger? Not by much

JetBlue Airways' decision to abandon its alliance with American Airlines has improved its chances in the trial over a $3.8b deal to buy Spirit Airlines, but may not be enough to hand it a victory, antitrust experts said. In its lawsuit filed in March aimed at stopping JetBlue's purchase of Spirit, the US Justice Department (DOJ) cited as evidence JetBlue's alliance with American at airports in New York and Boston several times. Calling the partnership a "de facto merger," the DOJ argued that JetBlue's proposed purchase of Spirit, a Florida-based ultra-low cost carrier, would lead to further industry concentration. On Wednesday, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said ending the partnership with American has taken the DOJ's "misplaced" concerns off the table and would help when the Spirit case goes to trial in October. Eleanor Fox, an antitrust professor at New York University School of Law, said JetBlue would have found it even harder to win the Spirit trial by being in alliance with American because it had made the carrier a bigger player in certain markets. "It improves the chances that JetBlue-Spirit will win the trial," Fox said. Former Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic, who now teaches at George Washington University law school, said the airline had to choose between the alliance and the Spirit merger as both could not survive regulatory scrutiny. The alliance had allowed JetBlue access to American's airport slots and customers, letting it add new routes and operate more flights out of airports in New York and Boston.<br/>