US competition authorities will keep the American Airlines/British Airways alliance antitrust case on a fast track. The Department of Transportation has turned down a plea by opponents of the alliance to hold a full-scale hearing on the issues of the case, which has so far been argued in written filings with the DoT. The department will now stick to its 21 December deadline for last filings in the case, in which the American/BA application has been combined with an application for antitrust immunity by United Airlines and BMI British Midland. Despite an admission that the application has been given added impetus by the imminent transfer of aviation pact negotiating powers from European Union members to the European Commission, the DoT has not set a deadline for ruling on a separate pending antitrust application by Air France and Delta Air Lines.
Source: Flight International