Airline merger talks continue but time is running out for regulatory approval of any US carrier to complete an agreement before the business-friendly Bush administration leaves office.
“Antitrust experts say any such combination will take several months to gain Justice Department approval, and that a decision likely would be needed before Election Day or the airlines will have to roll the dice with whomever follows President George W. Bush into the White House,†says the International Herald Tribune.
Said Darren Bush, an associate professor at the University of Houston Law Center who was formerly in the US Justice Department:
“The Bush administration has rarely met a merger it didn’t like.†But the airlines “have to get it done by the end of April if they have any hope of getting it (approved) under the Bush administration,” he added.
The carriers are convinced the Bush administration is more supportive of their “business efficiencies argument” than the “constituency argument” that may play better with a Democrat or John McCain in the White House, said Michael Waxman, a professor at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee.
Since talks began a few months ago, lawmakers have railed against the proposed combination of Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc., seeing it as competition-killer and ticket price-hiker.
Many in Congress have promised hearings if any mergers are announced, but antitrust review responsibility ultimately falls to the Justice Department.
Report by David Wilkening
