American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey is declining to comment on conditions proposed by US regulators for the relinquishment of Heathrow slots to gain approval for anti-trust immunity necessary for American to establish a transatlantic joint-venture with BA and Iberia, and is instead choosing to reference previous statements that slot divestment is unnecessary.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) on 13 February issued its tentative approval of anti-trust immunity for the three Oneworld partners that requires the relinquishment of four Heathrow slots, two specifically in the Boston-London market. American, BA and Iberia are also seeking anti-trust immunity with fellow Oneworld partners Finnair and Royal Jordanian.
DOT's requirements are much less severe than the hundreds of slots the agency required BA and American to relinquish during a previous attempt to gain anti-trust immunity in 2002.
That was prior to the EU-US open skies agreement taking affect in 2008, and Oneworld carriers argue the pact has supplied an opportunity for carriers seeking to operate from Heathrow to gain access and launch service from the airport.
In November 2009 Arpey told ATI and Flightglobal he did not believe any remedies were necessary to gain anti-trust approval.
Asked today during the US FAA's annual forecast conference in Washington, DC if American was satisfied with the slot divestitures proposed by DOT, Arpey declined to comment, reiterating previous statements that no remedies are necessary to gain the requested approval.
Amercian's CEO did say, however, that "work continues among all parties to get a joint-venture established".
The Oneworld partners have not yet filed a formal response to DOT's tentative approval.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
