17 April 2009

Virgin calls for missing documents relating to proposed BA/AA tie-up

Virgin Atlantic is urging the US Department of Transport to call for more documents from British Airways and American Airlines relating to their application for anti-trust immunity.

Virgin said it has emerged that there were many highly relevant documents missing from the latest submission of evidence.

Last December, the US Department of Transport asked BA and AA to give more evidence relating to their request for anti-trust immunity, which the two airlines finally submitted recently.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe are concerned about the many missing materials in BA and AA's recent filing,Ã¢â¬~ said Paul Charles, Virgin director of communications.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœTheir submission appears to omit scores of key documents, including email attachments and missing pages, that would appear to be highly relevant to this case and, at the very least, responsive to the Department of Transport's request for further evidence.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœAnti-trust immunity for BA and AA would give the carriers further dominance on routes to and from Heathrow, so the regulators need a complete set of documents in order to thoroughly review this anti-competitive application on behalf of consumers."

Virgin said the BA/AA alliance would have a market share significantly over 60% on key routes such as Heathorw-JFK, Heathrow-Chicago, Heathrow-Boston and Heathrow-Miami.

By Bev Fearis