Breaking News
Investing Pro 0
💎 Access the Market Tools Trusted by Thousands of Investors Get Started

American, JetBlue urge US judge to allow them to keep codeshare arrangements

Published Jun 09, 2023 08:09PM ET Updated Jun 09, 2023 08:30PM ET
Saved. See Saved Items.
This article has already been saved in your Saved Items
 
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Airbus A321-200 plane takes off from Los Angeles International airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
 
JBLU
-0.22%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 
SAVE
-0.18%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 
AAL
-1.23%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) asked a U.S. judge late Friday to allow them to continue mutual frequent flyer recognition and codeshare arrangements.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled on May 19 that the airlines must end their Northeast Alliance (NEA) they used to coordinate flights and pool revenue finding the arrangement means higher prices for consumers and ordering the companies to part ways within 30 days.

The airlines said Sorokin should allow them to continue codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer programs, arguing such agreements are lawful and "to ensure that the right airline is paid for the service provided to the consumer." Codeshares allow multiple airlines to sell seats for the same flight.

The Justice Department said Sorokin should reject the airlines "invitation to craft a new 'NEA Lite' on the fly." The court should not "bless a different partnership, in a matter of days, simply because it lacks some of the most brazen features of the NEA."

The Justice Department and six states sued in 2021 to unwind the NEA announced in 2020, calling it a "de facto merger" of the American and JetBlue Boston and New York operations that removes incentives for them to compete.

The department said Friday the airlines "must abandon their

entanglements and return to being fully independent competitors to remedy their unlawful distortion of airline competition in the Northeast and beyond."

The airlines opposed other proposed U.S. disclosure and monitoring conditions calling them onerous and unnecessary and oppose a two-year ban on any new alliance with any another U.S. air carrier similar to the NEA.

The airlines said Sorokin should minimize consumer disruption and not become "the central planner in the unwinding of a multi-year integrated joint venture in violation of cardinal principles of antitrust law."

American is the largest U.S. airline by fleet size and low-cost carrier. JetBlue is the sixth largest.

American said last week it plans to appeal. JetBlue has not made a decision.

The Justice Department argued the alliance gave the airlines more than 80% of market share in flights from Boston to Washington and six other airports including the New York area's JFK, LaGuardia and Newark.

Separately, the Justice Department filed suit in March aimed at stopping JetBlue from buying discount rival Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE).

American, JetBlue urge US judge to allow them to keep codeshare arrangements
 

Related Articles

Add a Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:  

  •            Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.

  •           Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed. 

  •           Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.

  • Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases. Comments that are written in all caps and contain excessive use of symbols will be removed.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and comments containing links will be removed. Phone numbers, email addresses, links to personal or business websites, Skype/Telegram/WhatsApp etc. addresses (including links to groups) will also be removed; self-promotional material or business-related solicitations or PR (ie, contact me for signals/advice etc.), and/or any other comment that contains personal contact specifcs or advertising will be removed as well. In addition, any of the above-mentioned violations may result in suspension of your account.
  • Doxxing. We do not allow any sharing of private or personal contact or other information about any individual or organization. This will result in immediate suspension of the commentor and his or her account.
  • Don’t monopolize the conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also strongly believe in giving everyone a chance to air their point of view. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.
  • Any comment you publish, together with your investing.com profile, will be public on investing.com and may be indexed and available through third party search engines, such as Google.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Write your thoughts here
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
Post also to:
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Thanks for your comment. Please note that all comments are pending until approved by our moderators. It may therefore take some time before it appears on our website.
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block

Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?

By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.

%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List

Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.

Report this comment

I feel that this comment is:

Comment flagged

Thank You!

Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Continue with Google
or
Sign up with Email