A US federal judge granted a motion from American Airlines to dismiss antitrust claims that were made against the carrier by Travelport.

Travelport had filed its complaints as a counterclaim to AA’s antitrust lawsuit that was filed in April 2011 against Travelport and Sabre.

The company clained that AA had been “withholding or threatening to withhold content from efficient, multi-airline GDSs, and leveraging the value of its content as one of the world’s largest airlines, to force travel agencies to switch to inferior, single airline AA Direct Connect.”

Judge Terry Means, overseeing the District Court in Texas,  dismissed Travelport’s claims as being inappropriate, since Travelport does not represent the relevant segments of the industry.

Terry Means said: “The competitors in these markets are airlines, and the consumers are travel agents and passengers. Travelport is neither.”

In a statement, Eric Bock, executive vice president, chief legal officer and chief administrative officer at Travelport, said the company is now looking into its options.

He said: “The court did not reach the substantive merits of Travelport’s allegations, but dismissed the claims on legal standing grounds. The court held that Travelport was not the appropriate party to bring these particular claims because the alleged harm caused by American would be ‘suffered primarily by travel agents and passengers’.

“Essentially the court held that Travelport was not the appropriate party to defend consumers and travel agents against the alleged harm caused by AA’s monopolistic conduct.”