Ohio Attorney General To Review Southwest/AirTran Deal

Ohio's attorney general on Tuesday said he would review the impact on competition from plans by Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) to acquire AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI), the first step in what could become a multi-state probe.

Richard Cordray was at the forefront of state-level efforts to assess the planned merger of Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and the parent of United Airlines, UAL Corp. (UAUA), and extracted concessions over their future Ohio operations after their merger.

His office has weighed back into the sector with a preliminary review of the Southwest plan to buy AirTran for around $1.4 billion.

Cordray said in a statement that his review "could lead to a full investigation involving other states".

The two airlines operate from Port Columbus, while Southwest also flies from Cleveland Hopkins and AirTran operates at Akron-Canton and Dayton.

Southwest has said it is confident of securing antitrust approval from federal regulators because of its limited overlap with AirTran.

Continental and United received justice department backing earlier this month, and agreed to a number of service commitments in Ohio after Cordray's office probed the deal, which is due to close Oct. 1.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

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