Alaska and Hawaiian merger is a contrasting tale to ill-fated JetBlue/Spirit deal

In Dec-2023, Alaska Airlines entered a definitive agreement to acquire Hawaiian Airlines for a transaction value of approximately USD1.9 billion. Less than nine months later, the merger is proceeding with little regulatory pushback, with the review period during which the carriers were prohibited from closing the agreement under antitrust legislation expiring uneventfully.

This is a very different story than the unconsummated merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, which faced heavy scrutiny from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in the form of an antitrust lawsuit. The transaction was eventually blocked by a US District Judge in Jan-2024, and the companies terminated their merger agreement in Mar-2024.