At points, the government's lawyers even sound, well, a bit jilted. Take this extended passage, in which Justice more or less accuses airline executives of being willing to lie through their teeth in order to get a deal done:

Notwithstanding their prior unequivocal statements about the effects of consolidation, the defendants will likely claim that the elimination of American as a standalone competitor will benefit consumers. They will argue that Advantage Fares will continue, existing capacity levels and growth plans will be maintained, and unspecified or unverified "synergies" will materialize, creating the possibility of lower fares. The American public has seen this before. [emphasis mine] Commenting on a commitment to maintain service levels made by two other airlines seeking approval for a merger in 2010, the CEO of US Airways said: "I'm hopeful they're just saying what they need . . . to get this [transaction] approved." By making claims about benefits that are at odds with their prior statements on the likely effects of this merger, that is precisely what the merging parties' executives are doing here--saying what they believe needs to be said to pass antitrust scrutiny.

As The Washington Post's Brad Plumer noted yesterday, it's possible that the DOJ has filed this case as a hardball negotiating tactic in order to press American and US Airways to make additional concessions before the merger, much as it made Continental and United give up the rights to some takeoff and landing spots before their marriage in 2010. On the other hand, this is the first time the government has filed suit to block an airline tie-up since 2001. And the government calculates that there are 1000 different pairs of cities where the merger would reduce air travel options severely enough to create antitrust concerns. Those don't seem like problems that can be solved by spinning off some airport real estate. Rather, they seem like complaints you bring to court in order to halt a deal "full-stop," as Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division put it during a press conference.

Whether you think that's necessary probably depends on how you read the recent history of the airline industry, which which has struggled mightily with profitability ever since deregulation in the 1970s. Before this latest wave of consolidation, the combination of the dotcom bust, 9-11, and rising oil prices had driven United, US Airways, Delta, and Northwest Airlines each into bankruptcy. American, of course, is still attempting to emerge from its own 2011 Chapter 11 filing. As the Post's Steven Pearlstein has explained, most within the industry believe there have simply been too many carriers running too many flights and undercutting each other on price to be sustainable. And, as this AEI chart based on trade association data shows, prices are indeed still far below where they were even in the 1990s.