US: JetBlue CEO wants ‘checks and balances’ on antitrust

Major US airlines involved in antitrust-immunized joint ventures (JVs) with foreign airlines should have “nothing to hide” from periodic US government reviews of those JVs, JetBlue Airways president and CEO Robin Hayes said.

Speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit in Washington DC, Hayes reiterated JetBlue’s call for the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to periodically review the transnational JVs in which American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines take part. He also highlighted JetBlue’s strong opposition to the proposed Delta-Aeromexico transborder JV and insisted that, if approved, an American-Qantas JV should be revisited by DOT after three years.

The US airline industry is “now the most concentrated airline industry in the world” and “exemption from antitrust laws” provides a “tremendous benefit … [to] three of the world’s largest airlines” at the expense of smaller US carriers such as JetBlue, Hayes said, adding, “We think it’s a big issue that there are no checks and balances. When DOT grants antitrust immunity, it never reviews it to make sure the airlines keep the promises they made when they applied for antitrust immunity.”

JetBlue and other smaller US airlines “face serious airport access challenges as result of the joint ventures,” he said, adding that the antitrust-immunized JVs should be reviewed for renewal by DOT every 3-5 years. Hayes noted that JetBlue had to endure a “confusing” process for years before gaining access to Mexico City International Airport (MEX), and said giving Delta and Aeromexico antitrust immunity for a JV “would only increase their already dominant position” at MEX.

Full content: Aviation Week

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