Lawmakers air concerns with American-US merger settlement

   A merger between American Airlines and US Airways could reduce service to rural airports and small communities if the Department of Justice’s settlement is approved as is, Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
   In the letter, John D. Rockefeller, IV, Bill Shuster, John Thune and Nick Rahall, II, noted that the settlement, which was agreed upon on Nov. 12 but still has to be approved by the court, does not require the combined airline to maintain its current service levels to rural airports. The settlement, they wrote, only calls for the divestiture of slots currently held by the carriers at major domestic airports.
   The divestiture, they continued, is at the heart of the issue.
   “The process the New American will use to divest its slots … may further compound an already problematic situation for small communities. Representatives from both the comainbe airline and the DOJ have indicated publicly over the past week they expect all of these slots to be acquired by low cost carriers,” the Congressmen wrote. “While LCCs may increase competition on commercial air service to larger markets, they do not generally provide service to smaller communities or rural areas, as only legacy air carriers have networks that encompass these areas.”
   Southwest and JetBlue have already begun jockeying for slots that will be released as part of the settlement. The Congressmen suggested that Justice appoint someone to oversee the divestiture process to ensure that all carriers — not just the low-cost airlines — have fair access to the slots and that those who win the slots maintain service to smaller airports.
   “To be clear, we fully anticipate that many of the slots and gates will ultimately be awarded to LCCs; we just believe the process should be open to all carriers,” they wrote.