American Airlines loses U.S. appeal of ruling barring JetBlue alliance

A U.S. appeals court on Friday held that a trial judge correctly found that American Airlines’ now-scrapped U.S. Northeast partnership with JetBlue Airways violated federal antitrust law.

Siding with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a trial judge’s ruling blocking the airlines’ “Northeast Alliance,” which had allowed the two carriers to co-ordinate flights and pool revenue.

U.S. Circuit Judge William Kayatta, writing for a…