House subcommittee to examine airline competition

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A House Judiciary subcommittee overseeing antitrust matters will hold a hearing next week examining airline competition and industry regulation after Spirit Airlines shut down all operations last month.

The hearing, titled “The 30,000 Foot View: Competition and Regulation in the U.S. Airline Industry,” is scheduled to take place on June 24 before the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust.

Chris Sununu, CEO of the country’s largest airline trade group Airlines for America and a former New Hampshire governor, is expected to testify, according to Reuters.

The closure of one of the country’s most notable budget-friendly airlines cost thousands of jobs and reignited the debate over the federal government’s approach to airline mergers.

Some critics pointed the finger at the Biden administration’s push to block JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines.

A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the merger from proceeding, citing that the acquisition would “substantially lessen competition” in violation of antitrust laws, and JetBlue ultimately abandoned the deal in 2024.

Sununu has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s handling of the merger. Speaking at The Hill’s “Red, Flight & Blue: The Future of U.S. Aviation” event sponsored by Airlines for America, the former New Hampshire governor slammed the Biden administration for thwarting the merger, suggesting it was done “for political reasons” and because they thought “they knew best.”

“Politicians need to actually do their homework and read a balance sheet, understand how businesses work and approve mergers when somebody is putting up a red flag saying, ‘We’re in real trouble here,’” Sununu said at the event last month.

The Trump administration similarly blamed the airline’s collapse on the Biden administration, arguing that the blocked merger paved the way for the airline’s eventual collapse. The administration also reportedly drafted a $500 million federal bailout to save the airline but ultimately failed to reach a deal.

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