JetBlue weighing options after Northeast Alliance court ruling

JetBlue Airways Corp. said it’s weighing its options after a US judge ruled the Northeast Alliance (NEA) between the carrier and American Airlines Group Inc. broke antitrust law and ordered the pair dissolve the arrangement within 30 days.

JetBlue expects to make a decision regarding its next steps “soon,” Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the IATA annual general meeting in Istanbul on Sunday.

“The NEA has been fantastically successful for consumers,” Hayes said. “There’s never been more JetBlue flights out of New York and Boston. Fares in New York have risen less than anywhere else in the country. All of those point to the NEA being incredibly successful.”

Hayes said the airline would “like to try and find a way of continuing with those flights, but we’ve got a lot more work.”

American Airlines and JetBlue use the Northeast Alliance, struck in 2020, to coordinate flights and pool revenue, arguably allowing them to compete more effectively against United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. in Boston and the New York city area.

The US Department of Justice initially filed a lawsuit against the alliance in 2021, calling the partnership a “de facto merger.” The government has said the deal reduces competition and could cost consumers an additional $700 million a year.

American Airlines said last week it would appeal the court decision.

Hayes on Sunday said JetBlue would make its decision independently of American Airlines, based on what was best for the carrier.