Alaska Airlines cannot close its acquisition of rival US carrier Hawaiian Airlines until 5 August under an agreement with the US Department of Justice. During a 90-day waiting period that began on 7 May and will end on 5 August, the West Coast carriers cannot complete their proposed $1.9b deal “unless they have received written notice… that the DOJ has closed its investigation”, according to a filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission. The carriers previously disclosed that they would enter such a timing agreement after submitting to the DOJ information the agency had requested, a process that is now complete. The carriers received DOJ requests for further information about the deal in early February. On 3 December, the airlines revealed that they had signed a deal under which Alaska would acquire Hawaiian for $1b and assume $900m of Hawaiian’s debt. Alaska maintains that the Hawaiian brand will continue to exist following the deal’s completion. Hawaiian Holdings’ shareholders voted on 16 February to accept Alaska’s $1.9b acquisition offer. The companies previously said they expect to close the deal in 12-18 months, pending regulatory approval. So far, the DOJ has not taken action to block the proposal. However, a group of US consumers have filed a lawsuit to block the deal on anti-competitive grounds, arguing that it would give Alaska too large a share of the Hawaii-to-mainland USA market. <br/>