As U.S. regulators spent the better part of six months preparing to sue to stop the American Airlines-US Airways Group Inc. merger, the carriers devised a plan to allay some antitrust concerns: an offer to cede flight slots at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. While the proposal fell flat, the talks show the stakes at an airport where a merged carrier would control 69 percent of the flights. The airlines’ overtures weren’t enough, and the Justice Department sued on Aug. 13 to block the deal. If there’s a way to settle the case, one element would almost certainly have to be a loosening of the airlines’ grip at National. JetBlue Airways Co. and Southwest Airlines Co. have said AMR Corp.’s American and US Airways should be forced to give up some slots, a step ordered in other mergers.
