American Airlines petitions Supreme Court to reverse ruling on Northeast Alliance with JetBlue

American Airlines is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that spelled the end of its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue.

In a petition filed to the high court, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier called a nearly two-year-old ruling against the joint venture between the two airlines a “clear legal error”  and one that “threatens to wreak havoc” on future collaborations between other companies.

A winding legal process

As part of the arrangement, the two airlines collaborated on schedule and “slots” (or tightly regulated takeoff and landing rights) at a handful of heavily congested northeast airports. The Northeast Alliance also offered reciprocal loyalty benefits to AAdvantage and TrueBlue members.

Following a lengthy trial in 2023, a federal judge struck down the deep partnership between American and JetBlue on antitrust grounds, siding with the Biden administration’s argument that the arrangement was anti-competitive.

American appealed the May 2023 court ruling following the trial. JetBlue opted not to join the appeal and focused instead on its proposed merger with Spirit Airlines — which a federal judge later struck down.

American’s latest petition

In its recent Supreme Court filing, American argued that the lower court took a flawed view of the Northeast Alliance’s effects on competition. While the joint venture may have reduced some competition between American and JetBlue, the airline argued that the alliance formed a more formidable competitor in the region to Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

“The decision, not the NEA, reduced output to the detriment of consumers. But it will also chill other collaborations benefitting consumers,” American wrote in its petition, filed last month but made public in recent days.

Could the Northeast Alliance return?

Will the high court ultimately take up the case?

“The whole thing looks a little like a Hail Mary to me,” Florian Ederer, professor and antitrust legal expert on the faculty at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Still, Ederer noted, the arrival of the Trump administration could set American’s petition up for more success in reversing the Northeast Alliance ruling if the Supreme Court does ultimately opt to hear the case.

“It could lead maybe the [U.S. Department of Justice] not pushing back quite so aggressively in a court case, in case this is taken up by the Supreme Court,” Ederer said. “The leadership at the DOJ is now a very, very different one than it was two years ago.”

Airlines have hinted at revised partnership

Ultimately, the big question for travelers hinges on whether some version of the Northeast Alliance — or another comparable airline partnership — could someday return.

Neither carrier has explicitly suggested the two carriers could again partner. In fact, JetBlue has made clear that it’s talking to a variety of airlines.

Beyond American’s appeal of the Northeast Alliance ruling, both it and JetBlue had expressed levels of interest in some sort of revised (perhaps more limited) partnership.

“Frankly, when I look at the benefits that we got from the partnership we had, I think that’s something that’s attractive for us. We have said we’re talking to multiple airlines. We’re still talking,” JetBlue president Marty St. George said last month at an industry conference.

“The NEA was something that was unique and novel, it served customers well,” American CEO Robert Isom told reporters in November. “We’ll take everything the court has fed back and put that into consideration. We’re not done yet trying to figure out how best to serve our customers.”

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