The U.S. Department of Transportation will not contest the proposed merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, leaving only the Transportation Department to review the deal prior to closing.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are one step closer towards their merger after the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to file a lawsuit to block the deal.

The Associated Press reports the deadline has passed for Justice Department review, which opens the door for final approvals from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Hawaiian Airlines Says Extended Deadline Passed on Midnight August 21, 2024

The approval date was revealed in a SEC filing from Hawaiian Airlines. After several extensions, Hawaiian says the deadline expired at midnight on Tuesday, August 21, 2024.

With the deadline passed, only the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to sign off on the agreement. Both Alaska and Hawaiian noted to federal officials that with very few overlapping routes, their merger would be a strategy to better compete against the three legacy airlines and Southwest Airlines.

The move is almost unprecedented under the Biden administration, which has championed pro-consumer regulations while blocking other mergers. In the past four years, the Justice Department has worked to block both the American Airlines-JetBlue Northeast Alliance, followed by the proposed JetBlue takeover of Spirit Airlines.

Although the two carriers would share an administration and potentially an air operator certificate, Alaska says they will operate Alaska and Hawaiian as two separate brands. It’s unclear what commonalities they will share once they do come together and how they will look, from the hard product in aircraft to the loyalty programs merging into one.

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Feature image courtesy: Alaska Airlines