The U.S. Department of Justice, fighting a proposed merger of US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines parent AMR Corp., lost a bid to delay the case yesterday, Reuters reported yesterday. The Justice Department requested a delay after many of its attorneys and support staff were placed on furlough. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, however, turned down the request in an order issued on Tuesday. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also announced that his state was dropping out of a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block the merger, Reuters reported yesterday. Texas was one of several states that joined the Justice Department lawsuit, filed in August, that has sought to stop a deal it said would lead to higher airfares and less competition. The other states are Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia. The District of Columbia also opposes the deal.
