British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia SA plan transatlantic alliance
British Airways PLC, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia SA on Thursday announced a plan to team up and share pricing plans and flight loads, a move rival airlines say will limit competition and raise prices for consumers.
The plan, which must first be approved by U.S. and European regulatory authorities, would affect flights to and from the U.S., Mexico, the European Union, Canada, Norway and Switzerland.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the revenue-sharing plan if accepted would help the airlines as they struggle to cope with record-high oil prices.
"I believe this is also good news for the industry," he said. "It's another small step towards consolidation."
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic president Richard Branson acknowledged the airlines are enduring difficult economic pressures but he said approval of the plan would ultimately hurt the consumer.
"Make no mistake, if this monster monopoly is approved it will be third time unlucky for consumers," said Branson. "It will still be bad for passengers, bad for competition, and bad for the U.K. and U.S. aviation industry."
"The job of the regulators is to assess the long-term impact of the alliance on competition, not to provide special protection from the immediate challenges of the economic cycle, with which every other airline has to deal," he said.
But Walsh argued the deal would allow them to compete with other transatlantic airline alliances already in operation, including the Star, oneworld and SkyTeam alliances.
With files from the Associated Press
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