The U.S. Department of Justice review period for the
proposed merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines has passed, the
carriers announced. Alaska
in December 2023 announced its $1.9 billion deal to acquire Hawaiian.
The merger plan had been under antitrust scrutiny by the
DOJ, and the review-period deadline, originally
set for Aug. 5, had been extended three times, having expired at 12:01 a.m.
Eastern Time on Tuesday. The proposed merger now goes before the U.S.
Department of Transportation for review.
“The closing of the Merger remains subject to, among other
customary conditions, receipt of the U.S. Department of Transportation approval
of an interim exemption application that Alaska and Hawaiian have previously
jointly submitted,” the carriers each wrote in U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. “Alaska and Hawaiian have been working cooperatively with
the DOT and expect to continue to do so.”
DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DOJ clearance comes at a time when other recent airline
mergers and partnerships have fallen apart. In March, JetBlue
and Spirit Airlines agreed to terminate their $3.8
billion merger agreement after a U.S. judge ruled
against the merger in a civil
lawsuit brought by the DOJ.
Further, in May 2023, a federal judge ordered the termination
of the Northeast Alliance between American Airlines and JetBlue, calling
the deal “anticompetitive.”
