美司法部阻止全美航空与美国航空合并

It would be the largest airline in the world. But Tuesday, before the $11 billion deal could take off, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways, saying passengers would lose big.

Consumer advocates agree.

-Because you've been saying all along that this should not happen.

-This is really good news for consumers because we were going to lose an incredible amount of competition within the United States. And when we lose competition, that's never good when it comes to price control.

The Justice Department used a flight today to illustrate what's at stake. They say this round trip from Miami to Cincinnati costs $471 on U.S. Airways and $751 on American. If the two airlines merge, the Justice Department says U.S. Airways' aggressive discounting could disappear.

Opponents say it would reduce competition, cut service and increase fees. At airports like Reagan National near DC, where the two carriers operate, a combined airline would control 69 percent of the take-off and landing slots.

In a joint statement, the airlines say they plan to fight the lawsuit. This spring, the CEOs defended the merger.

-And by putting these two networks together, we ought to be able to provide better service, more efficient service, to consumers.

-This is creating enhanced competition in the U.S., because today, you have two really big global airlines, United and Delta. And this creates a third as a competitive counterbalance to that.

The Justice Department says the companies can thrive on their own.

- So they're going to do just fine. They're not going to go away and be reduced to nothing.

All right, well, the Justice Department is saying that they don't have a problem with airlines making money, they have a problem with reduced competition. It says that the two airlines compete directly on thousands of routes