Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines planes takeoff at the identical time from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, United States on June 21, 2023.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Alaska Airlines said its plan to accumulate Hawaiian Airlines has cleared the U.S. Justice Department after the period for antitrust regulators to complete an investigation of the deal ended and not using a lawsuit to dam the transaction, eight months after the 2 carriers announced a $1.9 billion agreement to mix.
The 2 airlines now need to win approval from the U.S. Transportation Department before the deal closes. It wasn’t immediately clear how long that process will take.
The mix would turn out to be the most important U.S. airline merger since Alaska combined with Virgin America in 2016, in keeping with Mergermarket.
“The time period for the U.S. Department of Justice to finish its regulatory investigation of the proposed combination of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines under the [Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements] Act has expired,” Alaska Airlines said in a press release. “This can be a significant milestone in the method to hitch our airlines.”
The event comes after the DOJ won a court ruling in January that blocked JetBlue Airways‘ acquisition of Spirit Airlines. Last 12 months, the DOJ won one other suit that undid a partnership within the Northeast between JetBlue and American Airlines.
Hawaiian had faced a bunch of challenges within the months leading as much as the deal — which the 2 carriers announced last December — including the Maui wildfires, increased competition from Southwest Airlines, and the slower recovery of travel to and from Asia after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hawaiian has posted net losses in all but one quarter because the start of 2020, but executives have recently said booking trends are improving. Hawaiian’s shares were up nearly 12% in late-morning trading Tuesday. The stock was up almost 12% this quarter, as of Monday, while most other airlines’ shares have dropped.
The 2 airlines said in December after they announced the deal that they’d keep each carrier’s brand but operate under a single platform, combining right into a greater than 360-airplane fleet covering over 130 destinations.
The Transportation Department said Tuesday it “is reviewing the applying and may only approve a transfer whether it is in the general public interest.”
The Justice Department didn’t immediately comment.
