U.S. antitrust authorities want to see a broad package of divestitures from AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. as part of any deal to settle the government's challenge to their merger plan, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Justice Department's antitrust suit, which seeks to block the merger of AMR's American Airlines and US Airways, argues that the deal would harm consumers by reducing air service and increasing fares. It lists more than 1,000 routes on which regulators believed competition would suffer. The opening of settlement talks suggests that the government isn't taking an absolute stand against the deal, and that a trial isn't a certainty. At the same time, however, the airlines might resist the broad concessions that the government is seeking. The Justice Department's suit challenging the merger warns against overconcentration in the U.S. air-travel market if the deal goes ahead as planned, because it would leave the U.S. with just four airlines controlling more than 80 percent of the domestic market. Both sides have said they are prepared to go to trial, which is scheduled to begin Nov. 25.
