Before trial begins on November 25, US Attorney General Eric Holder had hoped the government would settle on an antitrust case against US Airways and American Airlines. The comments made by Holder, however, were unrelated to the news conference in Washington where the US Justice Department and two airlines had been discussing a settlement on the merger.
The lawsuit filed by government agency assumed that the merger would reduce choices for customers and would drive fares up such as in key airports like New York's LaGuardia. The combined airlines would reportedly control around 70% of slots. In addition, the lawsuit argued that airline mergers in the past had increased fares.
"I'm not going to go into any detail with regard to the discussions that we are engaging in, but I will say that they are - they are ongoing. We hope that we will be able to resolve this short of trial," Holder said in a report by the Dallas Morning News.
Both airlines refused to discuss current negotiations in public.
On Monday, shares of American Airlines' parent company, Fort Worth-based AMR Corp, soared 25% at USD9.84.
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