American Airlines flags no earnings impact from NEA ruling

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc’s Chief Financial Officer Devon May said on Thursday the court ruling on the Northeast Alliance with JetBlue Airways Corp will not have any impact on the carrier’s earnings.

American Airlines and JetBlue announced the creation of the Northeast Alliance (NEA) in July 2020 to coordinate flights and pool revenue while competing against Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, that dominate the New York-area and Boston markets.

Last week, a federal judge ruled for both carriers to end the alliance saying the partnership “substantially diminishes competition in the domestic market for air travel”.

“It’s a big deal for our New York strategy. It is not something that’s meaningful to our earnings,” May said on Thursday at the Wolfe transportation and industrials conference, adding that he doesn’t expect the NEA ruling to have any impact on the carrier’s macro capacity.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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