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Posted at 11:48 a.m. EDT Thursday, May 13, 1999
American Airlines charged with monopolizing air traffic
WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- The Justice Department charged today that American Airlines, the nation's second-largest air carrier, monopolized airline passenger service to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
American was charged in a lawsuit with repeatedly trying to drive small, startup airlines out of the DFW airport by saturating their routes with additional flights and cutting fares. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan.
``It is the public who loses out when major airlines succeed in driving low-cost competitors out,'' Attorney General Janet Reno told a news conference. ``Consumers shouldn't have to pay sky-high prices because one airline drives out low-cost competitors.''
She said American increased its prices between Dallas-Fort Worth and Wichita by 50 percent after it forced Vanguard Airlines, a lower-cost competitor, out of that route.
The department's antitrust chief, Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein, said, ``American pursued a predatory policy ... so it could return to its monopoly practices.''
He said these tactics were successfully employed against three new entrants into the Dallas-Fort Worth market: Vanguard, Sun Jet and Western Pacific. ``The effect on the traveling public was devastating'' in terms of higher prices and fewer flights, Klein said.
American Airlines charged with monopolizing air traffic
WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- The Justice Department charged today that American Airlines, the nation's second-largest air carrier, monopolized airline passenger service to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
American was charged in a lawsuit with repeatedly trying to drive small, startup airlines out of the DFW airport by saturating their routes with additional flights and cutting fares. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan.
``It is the public who loses out when major airlines succeed in driving low-cost competitors out,'' Attorney General Janet Reno told a news conference. ``Consumers shouldn't have to pay sky-high prices because one airline drives out low-cost competitors.''
She said American increased its prices between Dallas-Fort Worth and Wichita by 50 percent after it forced Vanguard Airlines, a lower-cost competitor, out of that route.
The department's antitrust chief, Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein, said, ``American pursued a predatory policy ... so it could return to its monopoly practices.''
He said these tactics were successfully employed against three new entrants into the Dallas-Fort Worth market: Vanguard, Sun Jet and Western Pacific. ``The effect on the traveling public was devastating'' in terms of higher prices and fewer flights, Klein said.