Judge Orders American Airlines, JetBlue To Scrap Partnership

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways must abandon their partnership in the northeast United States, a federal judge in Boston ruled Friday (Saturday, May 20, 2023, in Manila), saying that the government proved the deal reduces competition in the airline industry, David Koenig reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The judge said the airlines offered only minimal evidence that the partnership, called the Northeast Alliance, helped consumers.

The ruling is a major victory for the Biden administration, which has used aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws to fight against mergers and other arrangements between large corporations.

The Justice Department argued during a trial last fall that the deal would eventually cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

US District Judge Leo Sorokin wrote in his decision that American and JetBlue violated antitrust law as they carved up Northeast markets between them, “replacing full-throated competition with broad cooperation.”

The judge said the airlines offered only minimal evidence that the partnership, called the Northeast Alliance, helped consumers. The airlines said they were considering whether to appeal or not.

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