Feds sign off on United-Continental deal

United and Continental airlines moved a big step closer to a proposed combination on Friday, with the Justice Department saying it has no more antitrust concerns about the deal.

On Friday, the two airlines said they would lease takeoff and landing slots in Newark to Southwest Airlines. The Justice Department says that clears up its main competitive concern.

Shareholders at Continental Airlines Inc. and United parent UAL Corp. are set to vote on the deal on Sept. 17. The combination would create the world’s biggest airline.

The Justice Department says the two airlines overlap on a limited number of routes. The biggest overlap was at Newark Liberty  Airport  in New Jersey.

Continental and United operate 442 daily roundtrip flights in and out of Newark. Under the deal announced Friday, Southwest would get enough slots from Continental to operate up to 18 roundtrip flights there by June 2011.

The move increases competition for Continental at its Newark hub, as well as for United. Currently, Southwest operates a few flights at New York’s LaGuardia Airport but none at Newark or Kennedy.

Mike Boyd, an airline and airport consultant in Colorado, said giving up a few slots at Newark was an easy decision for the combining giants.

“United and Continental want to get this merger done,” Boyd said, and if federal regulators “stick their nose in there and say, ’Give something up,’ they’re going to give it up.”

Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president for strategy, said Newark would complement his airline’s service at LaGuardia and increase competition in the New York market. Southwest said it was still deciding what cities it would serve from Newark. From LaGuardia, it flies only to Chicago and Baltimore.