Judge throws out consumer lawsuit over Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian merger
A U.S. judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block Alaska Airlines’ plan to buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion, a deal the consumer plaintiffs said would cut routes and raise prices.
Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii in a Monday order, said the airline passengers who brought the case had not shown they have legal standing to sue over the merger.
“They allege no personal connection to either airline that would plausibly establish a concrete or particularized harm,” Watson wrote in his order dismissing the lawsuit.
→ Alaska Airlines launches routes to two Mexican destinations from Los Angeles
Alaska Airlines in a statement said it welcomed the decision, and said the merger will “expand benefits and choice for consumers.”
An attorney for the consumers, Joseph Alioto, on Tuesday said they would ask a U.S. appeals court to block the airlines’ merger.
The merger, announced last year, still faces U.S. regulatory review by the U.S. Justice Department.
Last month, Alaska and Hawaiian said they were cooperating with the DOJ probe and had agreed to extend the review period until Aug. 15.
Eight airline passengers from Hawaii, California and other states sued to stop the Alaskan Airlines deal in April, arguing it would violate U.S. antitrust law.
Their lawsuit said “the current trend toward concentration, the lessening of competition and the tendency to create a monopoly in the airlines industry is unmatched, unparalleled, and dangerous.”
Alaska Airlines, the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, countered that the merger would give customers greater access to more travel destinations. It called the plaintiffs “serial litigants” who presented “boilerplate” claims.
With information from Reuters
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