JetBlue demands the new American Airlines divest slots with merger
Photo Credit: JetBlue's first day at Reagan National Airport (DCA) on November 1, 2010. Flickr.com / JetBlue
Skift Take
Parker's argument that if the new American were required to divest slots at DCA, then it would divest slots serving small communities is nice spin, but that wouldn't fly with the DOJ.
JetBlue, which has commercial partnership with American Airlines, has come out swinging, demanding that a merged American Airlines-US Airways divest "a significant number of slots" at Reagan National Airport (DCA) as a precondition for antitrust approval.
In a letter to New York Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), JetBlue notes that the merger would give US Airways control of 67% of the slots at DCA, up from its already anticompetitive 55%.
"JetBlue believes that the merger, absent meaningful action by the Department of Justice, will make an unbalanced competitive situation at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) even worse, especially for communities in central and western New York where air service levels have decreased, fares have increased and economic decline has resulted," Robert Land, JetBlue's senior vice president, governmen
