US carrier JetBlue Airways has said it will follow a US judge’s order to end an alliance with American Airlines.
The New York-based carrier said it “strongly” disagrees but will not appeal against the court ruling on the Northeast Alliance (NEA) with American Airlines.
The move by JetBlue aims to protect its planned $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines.
However, American Airlines said it will move forward with an appeal.
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In a statement, JetBlue said the NEA at New York and Boston had helped the low-fares carrier to increase capacity, add new routes and bring down fares – and provided JetBlue-American flight connections that are a “real alternative” to Delta and United.
“For these reasons, we strongly disagree with the court’s ruling against the NEA and stand behind the procompetitive impact of the alliance,” said JetBlue.
“Despite our deep conviction in the procompetitive benefits of the NEA, after much consideration, JetBlue has made the difficult decision not to appeal the court’s determination that the NEA cannot continue as currently crafted.
“We will now turn even more focus to our proposed combination with Spirit.”
American said in a statement: “JetBlue has advised us that it will not join the appeal of the District Court ruling in the Northeast Alliance case.
“We, of course, respect JetBlue’s decision to focus on its other antitrust and regulatory challenges.
“At the same time, JetBlue’s decision and reasoning confirm our belief that the NEA has been highly pro-competitive and that an erroneous judicial decision disregarding the NEA’s consumer benefits has led to an anticompetitive outcome.
“American will therefore move forward with an appeal. JetBlue has been a great partner, and we will continue to work with them to ensure our mutual customers can travel seamlessly without disruption to their travel plans.”
CNN reported that the end of the alliance’s is a “setback” to American’s strategy to grow revenue by relying more heavily on alliance partners to ferry passengers in uncompetitive markets.