The Facts
Alaska Air announced on Sunday that it has agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9B cash and debt deal.
Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian — whose stock closed at $4.86 on Friday — and take on nearly $900M in debt that currently belongs to the company.
The Spin
Narrative A
The Alaska-Hawaiian merger will help consumers by facilitating increased connectivity and improved services. This consolidation differs from recent mergers struck down by the DOJ, because Alaska Air and Hawaiian Airlines have fewer overlapping routes and a much lesser combined market share.
Narrative B
It's up to regulators to protect consumers' best interests and ensure that companies don't utilize unfair business practices to form monopolies and raise prices. The Biden administration must challenge alliances in the airline industry, which has become too consolidated at a cost to ordinary Americans.
