Justice Department Greenlights Alaska Airlines-Hawaiian Merger
Alaska Airlines’ $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines cleared a major hurdle on Monday. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) completed its antitrust review and gave it the green light to move ahead.
The next step is an approval from the Transportation Department which said it “is reviewing the application and can only approve a transfer if it is in the public interest.”
The deal would solidify Alaska Airlines’ position as the fifth largest domestic U.S. airline, although it lags far behind American, Delta, Southwest and United.
The merger would be a big win for Alaska as the DOJ has successfully pushed back on two similar deals recently. It stopped the JetBlue-Spirit deal earlier this year as well as the Northeast Alliance between JetBlue and American last year.
Alaska and Hawaiian compete directly on only a dozen of their total 350 routes. Those routes are focused between Honolulu and Maui with airports on the West Coast.
The Alaska-Hawaiian merger would be the largest in almost a decade for U.S. carriers, since Alaska merged with Virgin America eight years ago.
When the deal was announced in December, the two airlines said they would keep each carrier’s brand but operate under a single platform. However, it’s not clear how their loyalty program will function once the merger is completed.
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