Hawaiian Air acquisition clears DOJ hurdle amid rocky period for company
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - With the passage of a Tuesday deadline, the U.S. Department of Justice has quietly stepped aside to permit the sale of Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines.
No fourth deadline extension was sought, and no DOJ statement was made as 12:01 a.m. EDT came and went without any objection filed to the merger.
“This is a significant milestone in the process,” Alaska said Monday night, adding that its next move was to seek certain regulatory approvals from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who wrote DOJ in June in support of the deal, said, “by the joining of these two airlines, a stronger company will emerge.”
Hawaiian Airlines has been burning through cash as it struggled with three simultaneous challenges to its financial health:
- A slump in Japanese travel to Hawaii: Japanese arrivals amount to thousands a day, but dramatically lag pre-COVID 2019 levels, as the weak yen boosts the cost of a Hawaii vacancy.
- A slump in U.S. mainland travel to Maui: Arrivals are down 14% from pre-Covid 2019, following the disruption caused by last year’s Maui wildfires.
- An interisland fare war: Southwest Airlines has sometimes sold interisland tickets at a loss, forcing Hawaiian to reduce its own fares to battle for market share.
Alaska recently recommitted to maintaining two separate brands, while combining the two carrier’s union contracts and rewards programs.
Hawaiian flies to Japan, Korea, Australia and other parts of the South Pacific.
Alaska flies to Canada, Mexico, three nations in Central America and Bahamas.
Together the two airlines fly 360 aircraft to more than 130 destinations.
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