Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said he will consider some form of "legal process" to block the British Airways/American Airlines/Iberia transatlantic joint venture if it is approved by the European Commission.
The oneworld partner airlines have been making efforts to appease EC concerns as it nears a final decision (ATWOnline, March 11). The US Dept. of Transportation already has granted tentative approval to the trio's request for antitrust immunity to share revenues and capacity. Branson long has argued that the tie-up would violate antitrust regulations and be damaging to the airline industry (ATWOnline, May 15, 2009). It also would present VG's Virgin Atlantic Airways with a formidable transatlantic competitor.
"We actually believe the Commission should just say, 'No way BA-AA'," he told the Financial Times yesterday. "The way the Commission is currently going about it is fundamentally flawed and misguided, and to be honest it's rather a lazy approach."
Branson argued that the EC should treat the proposed JV as a merger. "In every other way they'll be behaving as a single entity, so we believe that the Commission should be treating it as they would treat any merger situation," he explained. The EC has maintained it is reviewing a prospective "alliance" that does not fall under laws that would govern a merger.
"No evidence of consumer benefits has been put forward," Branson told the newspaper. He said AA/BA/IB's offer to lease at least four daily slot pairs at London Heathrow or Gatwick to competitors is "totally inadequate, both in scope and substance. . .BA and AA will continue to have massive frequency advantage."
