WASHINGTON, 2013-08-16 — /travelprnews.com/ —The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), has released the following statement in response to the antitrust lawsuit filed today by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent the merging of American Airlines and US Airways:
“Today’s action by the Department of Justice (DOJ) has interfered with the steady progress that the airline industry has made to achieve an economically rational yet vigorously competitive industry. This merger has broad support by labor groups, investors on Wall Street, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and other stakeholders.
“The Justice Department’s move isn’t rooted in the economic reality facing the aviation industry and its workers, one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the global economy. Moreover, the DOJ appears to have completely overlooked the need for U.S. carriers, such as American and U.S. Airways, to position them to compete in the international marketplace against powerful—often government-supported—foreign airlines.
“By filing this lawsuit, the DOJ has completely ignored decades of instability in the airline industry that has caused many carriers to go out of business, communities to lose service, and employees to lose jobs. Now that the industry is finally making strides toward economic stability and creating a balance among the major U.S. carriers, the DOJ has moved to interrupt that progress.
“This industry is one of the most competitive in the global economy. The market share of a combined American–US Airways company would be roughly equivalent to the size of United and Delta. This is hardly anticompetitive.”
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 50,000 pilots at 33 airlines in the United States and Canada.
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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org