Joint venture announced between British Airways, American Airlines, and Iberia

While rumors have been rampant lately it was confirmed today that British Airways, American Airlines, and Iberia “have signed a joint business agreement on flights between North America and Europe and plan to expand their global cooperation.”  It is expected that the three carriers will apply to both the US government and the European Union for antitrust immunity at some point during the day.

Rival and staunch opponent to the joint venture is Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic.  Branson feels that the transatlantic joint venture would harm the competitive environment and ultimately it would be the customers that were harmed.  Branson has even sent a letter to both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the United States in an attempt to stop the joint venture.

A statement released by all three parties reads “This relationship will benefit consumers by providing easy, seamless and convenient travel to more global destinations with better connections, improved flight schedules, and enhanced frequent flyer benefits. It will improve customer choice by enabling the oneworld global alliance, of which American, British Airways, and Iberia are key members, to compete more effectively around the world with other global alliances.”

Also noted in the statement is that “the three airlines will cooperate commercially on flights between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and the European Union, Switzerland, and Norway while continuing to operate as separate legal entities. They will expand their codeshare arrangements on flights within and beyond the EU and U.S., significantly increasing the number of destination choices that the airlines can offer customers.”

www.britishairways.com

www.aa.com

www.iberia.com