Alaska Air, Hawaiian Airlines clear antitrust hurdle for merger, WSJ says

Alaska Air (ALK) and Hawaiian Airlines (HA) have cleared a major milestone to combine companies after the Justice Department opted against challenging the deal on antitrust grounds, Alison Sider of The Wall Street Journal reports. The airlines argue the combination would connect Hawaii to more destinations and give Alaska a platform for international expansion. The U.S. Department of Transportation still has to approve the merger in order to proceed.