The wave of consolidation in the last five years has already left the industry with three major dome

2011: American Airlines files for Chapter 11, saying it needs relief from debt caused by high fuel prices and costly labor contracts. Parker, long an advocate of industry consolidation, las vegas tour grand canyon begins pressing publicly for a merger of US Airways and American.
The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday moved to block the planned $11 billion merger, saying it would stifle airline las vegas tour grand canyon competition and drive up airfares. The chief executives of both airlines immediately vowed to challenge the move.
The antitrust lawsuit surprised las vegas tour grand canyon industry las vegas tour grand canyon insiders who had thought the merger was just weeks away from winning Justice Department approval one of the deal s final two hurdles. The challenge sets up a potentially lengthy legal battle that could end with a judge deciding the merger s fate.
It all adds another layer of uncertainty to the future at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a US Airways hub already dealing with a lawsuit over whether it should be run by the city or a new commission.
US Airways and American planned to close their merger as soon as next month. US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker acknowledged las vegas tour grand canyon Tuesday that isn t a possibility anymore but said he still thinks the merger can close by the end of this year.
We will fight them, said Parker, in a message to US Airways employees. We are extremely disappointed in this action and believe the DOJ is wrong in its assessment...Other companies have found themselves in similar las vegas tour grand canyon circumstances and gone on to successfully close their merger.
Tom Horton, CEO of American s parent company AMR Corp., said in a message to employees the matter will now be settled las vegas tour grand canyon by the courts, a process that could take several months. In a separate message, American executives said the airlines expect to prevail at trial.
The merger has been in the works since American sought bankruptcy protection in 2011. In February, the companies announced their plans to create the world s biggest airline with 6,700 daily flights and annual revenue of roughly $40 billion. The combined company would be called American Airlines and be led by Parker.
Now, the lawsuit raises the real possibility that the merger will fail. The attorneys general of six states las vegas tour grand canyon though not North Carolina or South Carolina joined the federal government in filing the lawsuit in federal las vegas tour grand canyon court in Washington.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Bill Baer said that although the department would be open to hearing ideas on how to settle the government s concerns, he thinks totally blocking the merger is the best course. The lawsuit asks the court to permanently block the planned merger.
We think the right solution here is a full-stop injunction, Baer told reporters. las vegas tour grand canyon He called the airline s planned merger, which would leave more than 80 percent of the domestic air travel market las vegas tour grand canyon controlled by the new American, Delta Air Lines, United and Southwest, pretty messed up.
Tom Reich, director of air service development at AvPORTS, an industry consulting firm in Dulles, Va., said the new American could promise to take steps such as putting moratoriums on fee increases and not raising fares in markets where the two airlines currently compete.
The Justice Department said the deal will create an unacceptable level of consolidation and cut airline capacity, all of which will lead to higher fares. las vegas tour grand canyon The Justice Department said past experience with mergers shows the airlines prefer tacit coordination over full-throated competition.
To bolster their case, the Justice Department cited past statements by US Airways executives who would run the merged airline saying there were too many competitors. In 2011, US Airways President Scott Kirby said there had been three fare increases the airline had been able to pass along to customers because of consolidation.
As the largest las vegas tour grand canyon US Airways hub, Charlotte figures prominently in the Justice Department s suit. The merger would illegally eliminate las vegas tour grand canyon competition for flights between Charlotte and 38 other cities, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit cites city pairs like Charlotte and Dallas, in which US Airways and American currently compete. After the merger, there would be virtually no competition for airfares in those markets, the government argues.
The Justice Department also said US Airways executives have tried to suppress competition by communicating las vegas tour grand canyon directly with rival airlines. las vegas tour grand canyon In one 2010 email exchange, las vegas tour grand canyon US Airways las vegas tour grand canyon executives complained about an unnamed rival s triple miles promotion.
The move was hurting (the rival airline s) profitability and unfortunately everybody else s, Parker complained, according las vegas tour grand canyon to the lawsuit. Parker las vegas tour grand canyon told other executives to portray these guys as idiots to Wall Street and anyone else who ll listen.
Ultimately, to make sure the message was received, US Airways CEO forwarded the email chain and its candid discussion about how aggressive competition would be bad for the industry directly to the CEO of the rival airline, the Justice Department wrote.
Seeing the merger slip away would be a serious blow to Parker, a longtime advocate of industry las vegas tour grand canyon consolidation who engineered the US Airways-America West merger in 2005 and has since tried unsuccessfully to merge his airline las vegas tour grand canyon with both United and Delta.
US Airways executives have argued that even though the merger would turn two competitors into one, it would actually strengthen competition by creating a fourth airline las vegas tour grand canyon with the heft to take on Delta, United and Southwest.
There is a coordinated airline war on consumers and price transparency, said Business Travel Coalition Chairman Kevin Mitchell, in a statement. The group praised the DOJ for shining a spotlight on how uncompetitive and cozy U.S. airlines have become.
Many airline industry analysts said they were caught off guard Tuesday las vegas tour grand canyon by the government s opposition to the merger, especially in light of the Justice Department s approval of the last three airline combinations: Delta-Northwest in 2008, United-Continental in 2010, Southwest-AirTran in 2011.
The wave of consolidation las vegas tour grand canyon in the last five years has already left the industry with three major domestic carriers splitting up much of the traffic, las vegas tour grand canyon with US Airways and American as smaller competitors and airlines like Alaska, Spirit and JetBlue holding on to niche markets.
The Justice Department approved both the Delta-Northwest and Southwest-AirTran mergers without objections, and only required United and Continental to give up some slots at Newark Liberty International Airport to Southwest to win approval.
las vegas tour grand canyon The Justice Department s challenge could cast a shadow on the future of Charlotte as a major hub. Charlotte Douglas currently has about 650 daily flights operated by US Airways, about 90 percent of the airport s total. las vegas tour grand canyon Combined las vegas tour grand canyon with American Airlines, the merged company would operate about 94 percent of Charlotte s daily flights.
Charlotte s airport has already been roiled by months of debate over who should be in charge a fight that led to the departure of longtime Aviation Director Jerry Orr and a new state law to move control of the airport from the city to an independent commission. The city has sued to block the law, and a judge has said the transfer can t occur until approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
All indications are this merger will be good for Charlotte, former Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, who is now the U.S. Transportation Secretary, told the Observer in February. The Department of Transportation declined to comment Tuesday. Charlotte s current mayor, Patsy Kinsey, las vegas tour grand canyon also declined comment.
N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper is monitoring the Justice las vegas tour grand canyon Department action and is concerned about the potential for harm to consumers but is also considering the outcome for the City of Charlotte and surrounding communities, his office said in a statement.
My top priority throughout this process has been advocating for Charlotte Douglas to retain hub status and ensuring that North Carolina is positioned to improve air service to strengthen our economy las vegas tour grand canyon and provide more options to travelers, she said in a statement.
The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain las vegas tour grand canyon from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking others for their views.
Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email local@charlotteobserver.com to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network las vegas tour grand canyon and become las vegas tour grand canyon a source for The Charlotte Observer. Read more Read less
The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.
You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked las vegas tour grand canyon from submitting future comments as well.
The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking others for their views.
Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email local@charlotteobserver.com to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Charlotte Observer. Read more Read less
The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.
You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" las vegas tour grand canyon link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked from submitting future comments as well.