With United and Continental agreeing to lease takeoff and landing slots at Newark Airport to low-cost carrier Southwest, the Department of Justice has given its OK for the two airlines to merge.
In a statement late Friday, the DOJ said, "The department conducted a thorough investigation. The proposed merger would combine the airlines' largely complementary networks, which would result in overlap on a limited number of routes where United and Continental offer competing nonstop service.
"The largest such routes are between United’s hub airports and Continental’s hub at Newark Airport, where Continental has a high share of service and where there is limited availability of slots, making entry by other airlines particularly difficult.
"The transfer of slots and other assets at Newark to Southwest, a low-cost carrier that currently has only limited service in the New York metropolitan area and no Newark service, resolves the department’s principal competition concerns and will likely significantly benefit consumers on overlap routes as well as on many other routes. The slot transfer is through a lease that permanently conveys to Southwest all of Continental’s rights in the assets, in compliance with FAA rules."
