The Justice Department is near an agreement to settle its fight with American Airways and US Airways over their proposed merger, a person briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.
Shares in US Airways were halted for pending news on Tuesday morning. They had risen 3.5 percent after Bloomberg News reported that a settlement had been reached.
A pact is expected to be announced soon, forestalling a trial on the Justice Department’s lawsuit scheduled for later this month.
It isn’t clear what the terms of the settlement will entail. But Eric H. Holder Jr., the attorney general, has indicated that any agreement will revolve around concessions on airport takeoff and landing slots, particularly at Reagan National Airport near Washington. The two airlines control about two-thirds of the slots at that airport.
A merger of the two airlines, announced earlier this year, would create a new behemoth and would help lift American’s parent company out of a two-year-old bankruptcy case.
