Watch onBOSTON - The U.S. Department of Justice heads to trial on Tuesday to urge a federal judge to block JetBlue Airways' planned $3.8 billion acquisition of ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines.
A merger between JetBlue and Spirit, the sixth and seventh largest U.S. carriers, respectively, would mark the first major U.S. airline combination since Alaska Airlines bought Virgin America in 2016. But the Justice Department has said those divestitures are not enough, and in a lawsuit filed in March argued the combined airline would harm consumers by increasing fares and reducing choice on routes nationwide.
"The transaction promises to replace Spirit with a higher-cost airline that offers fewer seats, charges higher fares, and is less likely to upset other airlines' higher prices," the department said in a court filing ahead of trial. JetBlue in a statement said"our combination with Spirit is the best opportunity to disrupt the industry by increasing competition and choice, creating a long overdue national low-fare challenger to the dominant Big Four airlines."
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