A U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit panel expressed skepticism Monday regarding the possibility of overturning an order that nullified a partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue. This alliance, referred to as the Northeast Alliance, was previously ruled anti-competitive by a lower court.
Chief Judge David Barron queried whether the abandonment of certain routes as part of this alliance led to a reduction in flights significant enough to harm consumers under federal antitrust law. This comes as the U.S. Department of Justice needs to demonstrate that the Northeast Alliance would have a “substantial anti-competitive effect.”
First Circuit Judge William Kayatta Jr. noted, “I thought he [the trial judge] listened to the experts that the defendants [airlines] put forward and assessed their testimony and expressly found they were biased and largely not credible.”
More details can be found here.