Skift Take
The Department of Justice has an odd relationship with airlines. It seems to enjoy grabbing headlines about how it's doing its job to protect industry competition. But when it comes time to actually getting airlines to make real concessions, it falls short.
In the end, Alaska Airlines got off with a slap on the wrist.
It took a couple of months longer than expected — a delay that worried some investors — but the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it would clear Alaska's $2.6 billion acquisition of Virgin America, provided Alaska makes some changes to its commericial agreements to spur more competition. Most importantly, the new Alaska, which will be the fifth-largest airline in the United States, must pare back, but not end, its codeshare relationship with American Airlines.
However, Alaska will not lose any gates at Los Angeles International and San Francisco International airports, nor will it have to give up any coveted landing rights at congested airports in New York or Washington, D.C.
"It wasn't what everyone expected," Robert Mann, a former airline executive and now a consultant, said in an interview. "The DOJ seems to have gone lightly."
In other airline mergers, including the 2013 tie-up between American and US Airways, the government has required the carriers to divest gates and landing rights at key air
