A JetBlue Airways plane passes behind an American Airlines jet waiting to taxi at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
American Airlines and JetBlue Airways began selling tickets on each other’s airline on Thursday, launching the partnership the two airlines announced last year.
The airlines are moving ahead with the deal as the U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general in Massachusetts and New York are investigating the deal, according to a securities filing from American Airlines.
The airlines agreed to divest some slots at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and, following a Department of Transportation review, will refrain from coordination on some routes.
Under the agreement so far, Fort Worth, Texas-based US and New York-based JetBlue have begun jointly selling seats on nearly 75 routes from New York and Boston, a practice known as code sharing.
The two carriers, which are trying to fend off competition from other carriers in the region, such as United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, are adding 33 new domestic and international routes.
The airlines later expect to expand the partnership to earn and burn benefits for each other’s frequent flyer programs.
JetBlue’s pilots declined an agreement on Tuesday to provide contract relief for the airline to implement its full partnership with American Airlines.
“Job security, especially during turbulent times in our industry, is every pilot’s primary concern,” Captain Chris Kenney, president of the Air Line Pilots Association’s JetBlue division, said in a statement.
The union said it wants to work with the airline to find a solution.
The Allied Pilots Association, representing American Airlines pilots, said it is reviewing the matter and that “it would be very troubling to us to find that US management intends to conduct code sharing on routes that are violate another pilot’s union contract. “