American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. are in exploratory talks with the U.S. about settling the government’s lawsuit seeking to block their proposed merger, Bloomberg News reported today. The discussions are taking place between lawyers for the airlines and top officials at the Justice Department’s antitrust division. The airlines are offering to divest gates and landing and takeoff rights at Washington’s Reagan National Airport as part of a settlement package. The two airlines and the Justice Department said on Oct. 28 that they agreed to submit the lawsuit to mediation as suggested by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who’s overseeing the case. A trial is set to begin Nov. 25.
