Transatlantic alliance for British and American

The proposed alliance between British Airways (BA) and American Airlines (AA) will most likely gain approval soon without either of them having to surrender some take-off and landing slots at London’s Heathrow Airport. According to BA’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, it is quite different now than in 2002 when the Transport Department in the US demanded that 224 weekly slots be sacrificed to win approval for the alliance. Back then only four carriers were allowed to fly Heathrow-US routes until last year when the Open Skies agreement increased it to nine. Something Mr Walsh believes is a pointless exercise when airlines have to give up slots.

The Transportation Department has until the 31st October to make a final decision about whether the deal will be approved, which is a joint venture with Spain’s Iberia. It would give the three carriers the option to work together on their Oneworld alliance without the fear of breaking the antitrust rule. Others that could benefit from the deal are Finnair and Royal Jordanian Airlines. This will be the third time in almost 14 years that the two have tried to broker a deal to receive immunity from antitrust prosecution, the previous two times they have been asked to give up more slots than they were prepared to do.

After the 2008 Open Skies agreement was enforced many other airliones came inn to fly the popular routes. The immunity would give the Oneworld alliance the chance to compete with the already established alliances on the transatlantic routes.