BA and AA push for antitrust approval
13.01.10
British Airways and American Airlines have said that they believe recommendations for them to divest flights in certain transatlantic markets to secure permission to operate a join venture, cooperating on schedules and fares, are unworkable and unnecessary. They also said in a filing with US transportation regulators that antitrust enforcers at the Justice Department had failed to prove in a challenge to the proposal that a stronger alliance would lead to fare increases and fewer choices for consumers and called for ‘the proposed alliance [to] be approved and immunised without delay.'
US antitrust immunity waivers for airlines are often granted with conditions requiring divestments to ensure that routes remain competitive and fares do not increase. This is something that the US Department of Transportation imposed in two previous attempts by the airlines to work more closely, and something they want to avoid this time. The Department of Transportation is expected to decide soon whether to grant the immunity from antitrust law to the Oneworld alliance led by American and BA. The alliance will also need antitrust immunity from European regulators.
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