An American Airlines plane takes off near a parked JetBlue plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 16, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty’s paintings
american airlines plans to appeal a recent court ruling that blocks his partnership with JetBlue Airways within the Northeast, US CEO Robert Isom said on Wednesday.
A JetBlue spokesman declined to comment and didn’t say whether the airline also plans to appeal the ruling together with American.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled earlier this month that the region’s airline partnership was anti-competitive and ordered the airline to finish the partnership inside 30 days.
“We have a legal system that enables for appeal, and we intend to accomplish that,” Isom said at Bernstein’s investor conference. “I believe the advantages we proposed [in the alliance] ultimately wins.”
In the aftermath of Sorokin’s ruling, Isom said the carrier “could have to work with the Department of Justice, work with JetBlue to seek out out exactly what we’re doing within the meantime.”
The American declined to comment beyond the planned appeal. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
The ruling was a victory for President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, who, together with six states and the District of Columbia, sued in 2021 to dam the partnership, saying it will hurt competition and consumers. The Biden administration has taken a tricky stance on deals it considers anti-competitive.
The trial began a yr later in Boston and ended late last yr.
“Whatever the advantages to the Americans and JetBlue of becoming more powerful – within the Northeast normally or in joint competition with Delta – such advantages come from a unadorned deal to not compete with one another,” Sorokin said in his ruling.
The airlines argued that their partnership allows them to compete higher Delta Airlines AND United Airlines around New York and Boston. The partnership, approved in the ultimate days of the Trump administration, allows JetBlue and American to coordinate routes and schedules and share revenue.
American Airlines chief financial officer Devon May said at the identical conference on Wednesday that the corporate doesn’t expect a cloth impact from the ruling this yr.
The American raised its second-quarter guidance earlier on Wednesday, on account of strong demand and lower fuel costs.
Separately, the Department of Justice filed a criticism in March antitrust lawsuit to dam JetBlue’s proposed takeover of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, arguing that the deal would raise prices, especially for cost-conscious flyers.
