Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines’ Merger Passes DOJ Review

The $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines by Alaska Airlines took a major step forward on Monday, when the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) regulatory review period ended without issue, a week after Alaska had agreed to extend the review period.

The DOJ had until 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday morning to block the deal. The carriers now await word from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on the next steps.

“This is a significant milestone in the process to join our airlines,” Alaska Air said in a statement on Monday.

The news is perhaps most significant because of how heavy-handed the DOJ has been recently with airline mergers, including blocking the proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit earlier this year. The DOJ approval is typically the biggest hurdle in the way during these kinds of mergers.

The DOT approval is now expected to come quickly, and “following that step, we will complete work to close the transaction, and proceed with integrating the two companies, welcoming Hawaiian Airlines guests and employees into Alaska Air Group,” Alaska added.

If and when it is fully approved, the deal will create a combined airline that serves close to 55 million passengers annually, keeping the new Alaska as the fifth largest North American airline by passengers carried behind Delta, American, Southwest, and United. It will create a combined fleet of 365 narrow and wide-body aircraft, and a combined network of 138 destinations, not including destinations served via Alaska’s oneworld Alliance.

More uniquely, the deal would bring together two carriers that grew out of a need to connect residents of two noncontiguous states to the continental U.S.