An Ameriacn Airlines domestic first-class cabin
A U.S. District Court judge ordered that American Airlines and JetBlue Airways must end their multi-year alliance on flights in the northeastern United States.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in favor of the Justice Department means that the two airlines must conclude their so-called Northeast Alliance partnership within 30 days.
“It is abundantly clear to the Court that the defendants’ primary motivation in establishing the NEA was to strengthen their own competitive positions against Delta (and, to a lesser extent, United) in Boston and New York,” Sorokin said in the ruling Friday.
The judge noted that both carriers are “formidable and influential player[s]” in air travel. American Airlines Group, the parent of American Airlines, is the largest carrier in the world and JetBlue is the sixth largest carrier in the United States. Both are major players in the Northeast, in particular.
The DOJ suit contended that the two airlines raised prices and that the alliance reduced choice for air passengers traveling between major cities in the Northeast including New York and Boston.
In its suit to end the alliance, the DOJ said the two companies had committed to sharing information on which routes to fly, when to fly them, which carrier in the alliance would fly them, and what size aircraft would be used for each flight.
The Northeast Alliance was established in 2020 to get fanfare.
The two carriers have begun to elite members of the other’s frequent-flyer program significant benefits including upgrades to the premium-economy lite section and free same-day flight changes as well as priority check-in, access to priority security lanes, priority luggage handling, early boarding, and, on American, complimentary checked luggage.
JetBlue and American claimed that corporate and frequent flyers had greater access to benefits and discountsbecause of the alliance’s codesharing features. But the judge in his ruling said that these travelers make up a relatively small proportion of American’s customers.
Perhaps more significantly, Sorokin ruled that the schedule optimization and coordination under the alliance “has led to decreased capacity, lower frequencies, or reduced consumer choices on multiple routes, including some that are heavily traveled.”
The alliance, the judge indicated, effectively removed an entire competitor from markets such as New York and Boston, leaving customers with fewer options to fly between hubs like New York’s LaGuardia and Boston’s Logan airports.
The news gives the Biden administration a victory in the years-long suit, which was filed in 2021.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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