Summary Alaska Airlines facing concerns over a potential monopoly in the aviation market. Hawaiian Airlines' 66 aircraft, including Boeing 787s, to form part of the acquisition deal. Potential merger would allow both carriers to operate separately with a combined frequent flyer program.
Alaska Airlines has agreed to an extension to the review period of its proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. The review period with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has now been extended to August 20th.
The merger deal between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines was announced in December last year, and both carriers have since been working with the DoJ to determine some of the finer details of the agreement. The deadline for this review period was originally due to end on August 15th, but was subsequently extended by one day to August 16th, and has now had a further four-day extension. A majority market share for Alaska Airlines The proposed merger would grant Alaska Airlines a more than 50% market share on flights to Hawaii, raising concerns about a lack of competition in what is a lucrative market and the impact this may have on ticket prices.
JetBlue's planned $3.8 billion acquisition of the ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines was blocked earlier this year for the same reason. Simple Flying reported last month that the DoJ was seeking to challenge Alaska Airlines' planned acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines , which sent the latter's share price tumbling.
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