Jan 22 (Reuters) - American Airlines ( AAL ) and JetBlue ( JBLU ) have

agreed to pay a group of U.S. states nearly $2 million in legal

fees after the states won a trial challenging the airlines'

now-blocked U.S. Northeast partnership.

American and JetBlue ( JBLU ) will split the tab evenly in payments

to the District of Columbia and six states, including

Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania, according to a

settlement agreement obtained by Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston in an order on

Tuesday approved the parties' fee settlement.

American, JetBlue ( JBLU ) and the state officials that signed the

fee deal either declined to comment or did not immediately

respond to requests for one.

The states, which also included Florida, Virginia and

Arizona, sued along with the U.S. Justice Department in 2021 to

stop the Northeast partnership on antitrust grounds.

The airlines had agreed in 2020 to operate together for most

flights in and out of the Boston and New York areas.

American is the largest U.S. airline by fleet size while

low-cost carrier JetBlue ( JBLU ) is the sixth largest. The states said

the alliance would cost consumers hundreds of millions of

dollars through higher fares and reduced routes.

Sorokin presided over a trial and in 2023 blocked the

alliance. An appeals court upheld the decision last year, and

the airlines have since taken steps to unwind their alliance.

The airlines denied the states' antitrust claims, and they

said in Tuesday's fee settlement that agreeing to pay the fees

was not an admission of wrongdoing.

A provision of U.S. antitrust law allows the prevailing

party to recover legal fees.

American and JetBlue ( JBLU ) are still fighting a related consumer

lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn.

The case is United States of America et al v. American

Airlines Group ( AAL ) and JetBlue Airways Corp ( JBLU ), U.S. District Court for

the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:21-cv-11558-LTS.

For Massachusetts: William Matlack of the attorney general's

office

For American: Alfred Pfeiffer and Christopher Yates of

Latham & Watkins

For JetBlue ( JBLU ): Matthew Craner and Richard Schwed of A&O

Shearman

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