“This is a long time coming,” said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. In meetings of airline executives, including at the recent International Air Transport Association conference, airlines have continuously signaled “to each other that it was in their joint interest to keep capacity tight and to keep prices high.”
A United spokesperson confirmed the carrier is one of the airlines being investigated and said it is complying with investigator requests.
U.S. airlines received a letter Tuesday demanding copies of all communications the carriers shared with each other, their shareholders and Wall Street analysts about their plans for limiting seat capacity, according to the Associated Press, which first reported the investigation.
Historically low prices for jet fuel, airlines’ biggest expense, have helped the carriers save billions of dollars in expenses: American, Delta, Southwest and United saved about $3.3 billion on fuel in the first quarter, financial filings show.
Yet those savings have not found their way back to passengers. The average domestic flight last year cost $391, the highest cost since federal statisticians started tracking fares two decades ago. Adjusted for inflation, fares are at a 12-year high.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called last month for the Justice Department to investigate airlines that he said had coordinated to keep fares artificially high.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/doj-investigating-potential-airline-collusion/2015/07/01/42d99102-201c-11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html
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