JetBlue Says It Will Terminate Its Partnership With American Airlines

25.07.2023 - 10:11 / afar.com / Spirit Airlines / Merrick Garland / Leo Sorokin / Airlines

Three years after JetBlue Airways and American Airlines first created a strategic partnership that gave their customers mutual access to earning and redeeming miles, to reciprocal codeshare flights, and to an expanded route network, JetBlue this week said that it plans to end the union following a federal ruling against the pact.

“Despite our deep conviction in the procompetitive benefits of the [Northeast Alliance (NEA) with American Airlines], after much consideration, JetBlue has made the difficult decision not to appeal the court’s determination that the NEA cannot continue as currently crafted, and has instead initiated the termination of the NEA, beginning a wind down process that will take place over the coming months,” JetBlue said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The low-cost airline stated that it instead plans to focus on its bid to purchase Spirit Airlines, “which is the best and most effective opportunity to truly transform the competitive landscape in the U.S.,” JetBlue stated.

The JetBlue–American partnership, which was announced in 2020 and went into effect in 2021, was almost immediately met with legal challenges when the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block it as anti-competitive in September 2021.

“In an industry where just four airlines control more than 80 percent of domestic air travel, American Airlines’ ‘alliance’ with JetBlue is, in fact, an unprecedented maneuver to further consolidate the industry,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a DOJ release about the 2021 lawsuit. Garland argued that the pact was likely to result in higher airfares, fewer choices, and a lower quality of service for travelers.

On May 19, Judge Leo Sorokin of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Justice Department’s position, writing in his order that “the two carriers essentially agreed to operate as one airline for most of their flights in and out of New York City and Boston.”

With the partnership, known as the Northeast Alliance (NEA), “American and JetBlue transformed themselves from competitors to collaborators, joining forces to create a single ‘optimized network,’” Sorokin wrote.

The ruling is “great news for consumers,” Christopher Elliott, a consumer advocate and founder of Elliott Advocacy, told AFAR in May following the decision. “American and JetBlue were not competing—this was a de facto merger—and the government correctly put an end to it. Passengers will benefit with lower fares and better service. The government needs to finish the job now by pulling the plug on the JetBlue–Spirit merger.”

In a statement released this week, American said it plans to move forward with an appeal of the decision despite the fact that JetBlue said it would not to be