American Airlines and US Airways have just reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to drop its anti-trust lawsuit and permit the two airlines to merge. The merger is scheduled to happen in December. The settlement includes the divestiture of slots at major airports such as Washington-Reagan and New York-LaGaurdia.
We’ve covered the story closely since the first whisperings of a merger and chronicled the February 14 merger announcement on our liveblog.
The 20 most important moments, in what was hoped to be a seamless merger, are outlined below in reverse chronological order:
- AA-U.S. Airways Preparing a Settlement Proposal, Including Giving Up D.C. Slots
- Virgin America Seeks To File Brief Opposed to New American Airlines
- Southwest, JetBlue Tell Government They Want American’s and US Airways Slots
- U.S. Attorney General Says US Air and American Must Shed Airport Slots
- American Airline’s CEO Sees One Last Way to Avoid Trial Showdown With DOJ
- American and US Air Hub Airports Want To Intervene In Antitrust Case
- American Airlines Reorganization Plan Gets Formal Approval
- American Airlines and US Airways Ask DOJ Who It Consulted Pre-Lawsuit
- No Merger Worries, According to US Airways’ and American Airlines’ Shares
- Michigan Is Latest State to Join Lawsuit Against American-US Airways Merger
- U.S. Justice Dept Files Anti-Trust Lawsuit To Block American-US Airways Merger
- EU Clears Way for US Airways and American Air Merger, With Conditions
- American Airlines Creditors Voting in Favor of Reorganization Plan
- US Airways shareholders approve merger with American Airlines
- AA-US Air merger causes regulatory concern with reduced competition on 1,600 routes
- Leadership team of new American Airlines gets heavy US Airways stamp
- American files bankruptcy exit plan, as it closes on US Airways merger
- AA-US merger gets court approval, decision delayed on Horton’s $20 million package
- How Doug Parker beat out Tom Horton for CEO
- It’s officially official: American and US Airways merge to create world’s largest airline
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Tags: american airlines, mergers and acquisitions, us airways
Photo credit: Pilots from both airlines gather for a photo with Doug Parker, left, of U.S. Airways and Tom Horton of American Airlines after the announcement of the airlines' merger during a news conference at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Thursday, February 14, 2013. 107623 / 107623