Justice Dept. reviewing possible airline collusion to keep fares high

A U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday the department was investigating possible unlawful coordination among some airlines, declining to comment further, according to an Associated Press report.

The potential collusion among major airlines centers around limiting available seats, which would keep airfares higher, according to a document obtained by the AP.

The civil antitrust investigation appears set out to determine whether airlines illegally signaled to each other how fast they would add new flights, extra seats and routes.
 
Following a series of mergers beginning in 2008, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United now control over 80 percent of the seats serving U.S. destinations. Between 2009 and 2014, average domestic airfare increased 13 percent, adjusted for inflation, the AP reports, citing data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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