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Alaska Airlines on Friday asked a U.S. judge to throw out a consumer lawsuit over the carrier’s plan to buy peer Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9b, arguing that the transaction would not unlawfully consolidate its power in the transportation industry. Alaska Airlines said, in the filing in Hawaii federal court that the consumers’ April lawsuit did not show how passengers would face any “concrete, particularized and impending harm” if the deal is allowed to move forward. It called the plaintiffs “serial litigants” who have sued over other airline mergers and said their allegations were “boilerplate.” Alaska Airlines declined to comment on Friday. An attorney for the plaintiffs — eight airline passengers from Hawaii, California and other states — did not immediately respond to a request for one. The lawsuit said “the current trend toward concentration, the lessening of competition and the tendency to create a monopoly in the airlines industry is unmatched, unparalleled, and dangerous.” Alaska Airlines countered in Friday's filing that “the merger will vastly expand their customers’ access to the rest of the world.”<br/>The airline has said that the proposed deal was under antitrust review by the U.S. Justice Department. Both carriers said in March that they “have been working cooperatively with the DOJ and expect to continue to do so.”<br/>A Justice Department spokesperson on Friday declined to comment.<br/>

You no longer need to step outside the passenger terminal at Nadi International Airport to get a taste of Fiji’s hyper-local dishes. Fiji Airways’ new “Fijian fine dining experience” can be found inside the carrier’s Premier Lounge just past security screening. The new elevated airport dining is called the Chef’s Table and serves four courses in a private dining space away from the hubbub of the main passenger terminal. The airline says the experience offers travellers “a journey through Fijian gastronomic excellence before they catch their flight.” Fiji Airways CEO and managing director Andre Viljoen said the Chef’s Table “celebrates the essence of Fiji and redefines the expectations of airport lounge dining. “Nowhere in Fiji can you have a meal like you are going to have here. It is a total Fijian experience... We often joke and say our lounge is Michelin star level. No other lounge, not Air New Zealand, not Qantas match this lounge, so why shouldn’t we be Michelin starred?” Fiji Airways Lounge Manager Anish Lal came up with the concept and said he wanted to pay homage to the local people and produce.<br/>