Allegiant Air and Sun Country have hit a major milestone in their quest to combine into a single airline.
The two low-cost carriers received antitrust clearance from the Department of Justice on Monday, clearing an important hurdle in the merger’s regulatory approval process.
"We are pleased to receive U.S. antitrust clearance from the Department of Justice," said Allegiant CEO Greg Anderson. "We remain confident that this combination will deliver meaningful benefits for our customers, team members and the communities we serve. Together, Allegiant and Sun Country will create a stronger leisure-focused airline, offering a broader network, more travel options and increase long-term value creation for our shareholders."
It’s common for airline mergers to fall apart in the DOJ’s antitrust assessment stage. One of the most high-profile cases was when the DOJ blocked JetBlue’s proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines in 2024, with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruling that the merger would cause anticompetitive harm to consumers in the form of higher fares and fewer choices.
Now that Allegiant and Sun Country’s combination has been cleared by the DOJ, the next step is to get regulatory approval from the Department of Transportation. Allegiant expects to close the transaction in the second or third quarter of 2026.
Allegiant Air first announced its plan to acquire Sun Country in a $1.5 billion cash and stock deal in January 2026.
When the deal was first proposed, Allegiant’s executives expressed confidence the acquisition would receive government approval because the two carriers’ route strategies typically do not overlap.
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