Some more juicy gossip for your Tuesday — the Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against American Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp. The suit claims the two airlines’ partnership threatens competition.
American and JetBlue’s partnership was announced in July 2020. The deal intended to hedge both airlines’ pandemic losses by honing in on Northeast travel markets. Specifically, the two airlines decided that American could market its business on JetBlue flights and vice versa. 🤝
Even though the airlines aren’t allowed to negotiate fares or pricing strategies according to their original deal, the Justice Department still isn’t pleased. Supposedly, regulators think the deal could prohibit competition for competing airlines at Northeast hubs.
JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes doesn’t see the need for temporary regulation, however. Hayes claimed “I don’t believe DOJ has a case they can credibly bring against JetBlue, when all we’re trying to do is bring low fares and choice. If the DOJ sues us we will certainly be contesting that in court.” 🤭
Shots fired at the Justice Department. 🔥 🔥 We’ll be watching to see how this goes.