Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines planes take off simultaneously from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, USA on June 21, 2023.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Alaska Airlines Announcement of acquisition plan Hawaiian Airlines Eight months after the two companies announced their $1.9 billion merger agreement, the Department of Justice gave the go-ahead after antitrust regulators’ deadline for completing their investigation into the deal passed without any lawsuits being filed to block the deal.
The airlines must get approval from the Department of Transportation before the deal can close, and it wasn’t immediately clear how long that process would take.
The merger would be the largest U.S. airline merger since Alaska Airlines merged with Virgin America eight years ago.
“The period required for the Department of Justice to complete its regulatory investigation into the proposed merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines is [Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements] “The law has now expired,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement. “This marks an important milestone in the process of joining our airline.”
The move comes after the Justice Department won a court ruling in January blocking it. JetBlue‘ Spirit AirlinesLast year, the Justice Department said JetBlue and American Airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines faced many challenges in the months leading up to the deal, which the two companies announced last December, including wildfires on Maui, increasing competition from Southwest Airlines and a slow recovery in travel to and from Asia following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hawaiian Airlines has posted net losses for all but one quarter since the start of 2020, but executives have said bookings trends have improved in recent days. Hawaiian Airlines shares were up about 12% this quarter as of Monday, while shares of most other airlines have fallen.
When the two airlines announced the deal in December last year, they said they would maintain their respective brands, operate from a single platform and have a fleet of more than 360 aircraft covering more than 130 destinations.
The Justice and Transportation departments did not immediately comment Tuesday.
