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Travel And Hospitality
CIO Bulletin
07 July, 2023
JetBlue Airways announced that it was splitting from partners American Airlines to focus on acquiring Spirit Airlines.
After being ordered to do so by a federal judge, JetBlue Airways announced on Wednesday that it will end its partnership with American Airlines in northeastern United States in order to concentrate on its acquisition of Spirit Airlines.
American Airlines announced in June that it would appeal to the Northeast Alliance’s (NEA) decision against the JetBlue partnership, but New York-based JetBlue declared on Wednesday that it would not challenge the ruling. The Justice Department and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in 2021 to stop the alliance, claiming it was anticompetitive.
After JetBlue and American established their Northeast partnership, a deal between JetBlue and Spirit was agreed upon. The NEA, which was approved in the final days of the Trump administration, enables the two carriers to share customers, income, and schedules. American and JetBlue claimed they required the agreement to effectively compete in Boston's and the New York area's crowded airports against major carriers like United and Delta.
However, a federal judge declared that alliance to be anticompetitive in May and ordered the two airlines to dissolve it.
Despite the decision, American Airlines said on Wednesday that it would appeal. When asked whether JetBlue intended to start unraveling the agreement or how American could save the deal if it won an appeal, the airline spokesman declined to comment.