This is from the article:
Alaska's internal planning documents demonstrate how the incentives created by the codeshare agreement would likely reduce competition on the routes where American and Virgin compete today. In analyzing the proposed merger, Alaska executives reported to the company's board of directors that certain Virgin operations 'would not have (the) support of the American partnership.' Accordingly, early during the consideration process, Alaska executives developed a plan that called for changes 'that we think would need to be made' to Virgin's service following the merger. The plan contemplated reducing or eliminating service on many of the routes where Virgin and American offer competing service today, including some of the most traveled routes in the country."
Several examples highlight the DOJ's concern.
Amazing...this should concern every single one of us. SCOPE!