Federal Government Investigating Airlines For Conspiring To Keep Airfares High

The Department of Justice is investigating multiple airlines for “unlawful coordination.”

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating whether airlines have been conspiring to keep airfares high for travelers, a spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday.

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The AP reportedly obtained a document on Wednesday showing the Justice Department is investigating whether airlines worked together on limiting seat availability – keeping demand, and therefore prices, high.

As the AP reported:

The civil antitrust investigation by the Justice Department appears to focus on whether airlines illegally signaled to each other how quickly they would add new flights, routes and extra seats.

The Justice Department is "investigating possible unlawful coordination by some airlines," a spokesperson told to BuzzFeed News.

In the past decade, a series of airline bankruptcies and mergers reduced the 10 major U.S. airlines to four. As of 2012, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines own more than 80% of national flights.

Since this merger, many of the airlines have shrunk the size of coach seats to fit sometimes up to 100 people more into the cabin.

United, American Airlines, and Delta cut hundreds of their least profitable flights in 2014, costing thousands of jobs across the country.

In 2014 jet fuel fell by 32%, according to the IATA, while airfare prices continued to increase throughout the year.

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