States Say ‘Wait’ on American-US Air Merger

In the latest speed bump on the road to US Airways’ merger with American, a group of 19 state attorneys general, led by Texas, has joined the Justice department in subjecting the tie-up to scrutiny.

According to a Bloomberg report on the action, the attorneys general are barred from elaborating on the focus of their probe by a confidentiality agreement they’ve entered into with the airlines. But an unnamed source cited two areas of concern: first, that flight cuts would dilute competition and lead to increased prices in some markets; and second, that service to Washington’s Reagan National Airport would be reduced.

The probe comes on the heels of last month’s report by the Government Accountability Office showing that although the two airlines only competed directly on 12 nonstop routes, the merger would result in the loss of a competitor on 1,665 city pairs, affecting more than 53 million passengers.

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This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.

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