As their proposed $1.9 billion merger undergoes antitrust clearance review, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have requested an exemption to operate under common ownership and transfer Hawaiian’s international route authorities.
The carriers have submitted two joint applications to the U.S. Transportation Department in anticipation of the transaction completing.
They have requested a “de facto transfer of Hawaiian’s international route authorities” to potential parent Alaska Air Group and re-issuance of each airline’s international route authorities in the other’s name. The carriers have also sought an “interim exemption” to operate under common ownership pending approval of the mutual transfer of their routes.
After the transaction closes, Alaska and Hawaiian will be commonly owned and controlled but will operate separately until their operations merge under a single operating certificate.
In their application, the airlines said the combined entity would serve 54.7 million passengers annually and operate to 138 destinations, as well as providing access “to more than 1,200 destinations” through Alaska’s membership in the Oneworld alliance.
“The combined airline will be better positioned to provide stronger competition against the Big Four U.S. passenger airlines—American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines—which collectively account for approximately 80% of domestic seat share,” the filing added.
The carriers said that the proposed transfer of international route authority would “generate substantial public benefits,” enabling the combined airline “to launch new nonstop and connecting services.”
“Alaska will gain access to a fleet of widebody aircraft that can serve not only international destinations, but other long-haul domestic routes,” they added. “These widebodies will give Alaska new assets to deploy strategically across a broader network, offering new competition to the U.S. global carriers.”
Additionally, the application said: “The transfer approval requested by this joint application will advance U.S. international aviation policy by fostering U.S.-flag carrier competition to international destinations in the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. No international destination served by Hawaiian is currently served by Alaska.”
Alaska and Hawaiian entered a merger agreement on Dec. 3, 2023, with Alaska Air Group paying $18 per share in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Dec. 1, 2023, at $4.86. The proposed transaction has been approved by both airline boards, but is being reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department, which has until Aug. 5 to make a decision.
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