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American Airlines loses United States appeal of judgment disallowing JetBlue alliance

A U.S. appeals court declined on Friday a bid by American Airlines to overturn a judge's. choice that agreed the U.S. Department of Justice and. declared that its nowscrapped U.S. Northeast partnership with. JetBlue Airways was anticompetitive.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred. with the lower-court judge that the airlines' Northeast Alliance. joint endeavor that permitted the 2 carriers to coordinate. flights and pool revenue breached federal antitrust law.

American Airlines and JetBlue did not right away respond to. requests for remark.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin sided in May 2023 with the. Justice Department and 6 states in a suit challenging the. joint endeavor that American and JetBlue entered into in 2020.

Through their partnership, American, the nation's largest. airline, and JetBlue, the sixth-largest, joined forces for. flights in and out of New York City and Boston, coordinating. schedules and pooling revenue.

Following Sorokin's ruling, JetBlue terminated the alliance,. as it unsuccessfully sought to reinforce its efforts to win. approval for its now-dropped $3.8-billion purchase of Spirit. Airlines, which the Justice Department also challenged.

American Airlines, however, pushed ahead with an appeal,. stating the judgment would prevent the company from participating in. any similar future arrangement for 10 years, including with. JetBlue.

(source: Reuters)