Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines Merger

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Alaska Airlines completes its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion.

Retained by both parties (O’Melveny & Myers for Alaska Airlines and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for Hawaiian Airlines)

On September 18, 2024, Alaska Air Group (Alaska Airlines) completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings (Hawaiian Airlines) after the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) completed their regulatory investigation and allowed the transaction to close.

The parties announced in December 2023 that they had reached an agreement under which Alaska Airlines would acquire Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. Counsel for the merging parties jointly retained Cornerstone Research to support Gautam Gowrisankaran of Columbia University through the regulatory review process. Professor Gowrisankaran analyzed the competitive effects of the merger and presented his findings to the agencies. Cornerstone Research also supported both parties in their responses to DOJ’s Second Request.


For more information, contact Kostis Hatzitaskos, Avigail Kifer, Ana McDowall, or Andrew Sfekas. Other team members involved in this matter include Arthur Corea-Smith, Felipe Flores-Golfin, Andrew Heinzman, Vivek Mani, Giovanni Montanari, Paul Piveteau, Mason Reasner, Zeyu Wang, and Haoran Zhang.


Case Experts

Gautam Gowrisankaran

Professor of Economics,
Columbia University;
Senior Advisor, Cornerstone Research

Charles Murry

Associate Professor of Economics,
University of Michigan