United Airlines is concerned about the
potential merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.
After the deal has been in the works for
almost a year.
And after the agreement just passed a
major hurdle with the Department of Justice.
Aviation experts agree that it won’t kill
the deal, but United’s
concerns could delay the $1.9 billion agreement. The Department of
Transportation still has to complete its investigation before it approves the
merger.
United sent a letter to the DOT, raising
concerns about the merger’s potential impact on United’s current deals with
Hawaiian that allow passengers to accumulate miles on both airlines.
“What it means is that their airline can
sell some tickets on that airplane, and both companies make some profit on that
arrangement,” said Hawaii aviation expert Peter Forman. “It is a lucrative type
of agreement between airlines.”
But, he said, it doesn’t appear to be a
deal-breaker.
“It’s not a showstopper at all because
worse case situation, the DOT says Hawaiian you got to keep these agreements
open to United,” said Forman.
United has been flying to Hawaii for
generations and has had agreements with Hawaiian Airlines for decades. Why it
waited this long and the process of the merger to voice is concerned is
unknown.
“I started working for them back in 1987
here in Hawaii. The biggest carriers were United, Northwest and Continental,”
said former United pilot Patrick McNamee. “United shot the first bullet across
the bow. Trust me, Southwest is going to be there by tomorrow.”
The merger cleared a major hurdle with the
DOJ, the
same government agency that blocked a merger between JetBlue Airways and
Spirit Airlines.
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