The Northeast Alliance has been thrown into query as soon as extra.

JetBlue stated Wednesday that it could not attraction a current antitrust ruling by the federal District Court docket in Massachusetts in opposition to its partnership with American Airways and start the method of unwinding a posh integration that has been in place for greater than two years.

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The airline stated it could as an alternative concentrate on an upcoming antitrust go well with over its deliberate merger with low-cost Spirit Airways.

American Airways, however, stated that it could plan to file an attraction individually. It was not instantly clear if JetBlue meant to stay with the alliance if American’s attraction is profitable.

Nor was it clear what such a break up authorized technique would imply for passengers within the interim as JetBlue and American proceed to promote and function flights underneath the alliance, pending a closing injunction which is but to be issued by the courtroom. The airways are nonetheless honoring advantages, together with incomes and utilizing miles, throughout their two frequent flyer packages.

The specifics of the injunction are anticipated to be decided following a listening to on July 26, which might influence the character of American’s attraction. Except a keep of the preliminary ruling is issued by the Circuit Court docket listening to the attraction, the 2 airways must start unwinding the alliance starting 21 days following the ultimate injunction being issued.

In a press release to TPG, an American Airways spokesperson stated that the airline wouldn’t search a keep, however would as an alternative search to have its attraction fast-tracked.

“In mild of JetBlue’s resolution, American won’t search a keep of the District Court docket’s injunction, however we are going to search an expedited attraction,” the airline stated. “The significance of the authorized points introduced and the burdens of the restrictions on our enterprise ought to simply justify an accelerated attraction.”

For the reason that resolution was handed down in Might, each airways have expressed disagreement with the courtroom’s discovering that the alliance stifled competitors, a sentiment they repeated Wednesday.

“We strongly disagree with the courtroom’s ruling in opposition to the NEA and stand behind the procompetitive influence of the alliance,” JetBlue stated in a press release, noting that it could concentrate on preventing the Justice Division’s go well with in opposition to the merger with Spirit.

“Because it pertains to the Spirit mixture, terminating the NEA renders the U.S. Division of Justice’s (DOJ) considerations about our partnership with a legacy service totally moot,” JetBlue stated.

The appeals course of can take months or longer, and it was not clear what that may imply if a keep of the District Court docket ruling will not be issued.

American and JetBlue have argued that the partnership is pro-competitive as a result of it permits them to supply stronger competitors in opposition to Delta Air Strains and United Airways — which dominate the Northeast market — than both airline might do alone. Whereas JetBlue has a powerful presence within the Northeast, it stays comparatively small and has much less of a presence elsewhere within the nation.

Though American Airways stays massive, its New York presence has shrunk considerably for the reason that early 2000s, and it could possibly’t considerably add service resulting from slot restrictions in New York.