In what might be a preliminary step toward reviving its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue, American Airlines has asked the Supreme Court to review and overturn rulings against it in Federal District and Circuit courts.
JetBlue has not commented on American’s renewed litigation, but has been talking about possibilities for new partnerships and alliances.
The Alliance, a plan in which the two airlines coordinated schedules, pooled revenue and offered travelers itineraries that included flights from both in the northeast region, centered on New York and Boston. The move was aimed at earning a more competitive share for the two in a market dominated by Delta and United, and feeding passengers into each other’s extended networks.
The plan was initially approved by the Transportation Department in the last days of the first Trump administration, but during the Biden administration the Justice Department sued, saying it was anti-competitive. After a District Court ruling against NEA in late 2023, the partners abandoned the alliance, but American kept an appeal going, and lost that case also. JetBlue did not take part in the appeal, having turned its focus to acquiring Spirit Airlines, a move also eventually blocked by the government.
American’s new filing with the Supreme Court says that both courts failed to take into account market-wide figures, as required by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, but rather assumed that any combination must reduce competition.
