Gordon Werner

Delta complains to EU on American-British air deal

By Bradley Perrett, European airlines correspondent

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Third-ranked U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines Inc added a European Union complaint on Wednesday to a campaign against a proposed alliance of AMR Corp's American Airlines and British Airways Plc.

British Airways said the move would not delay its ambition to operate joint transatlantic services with American.

"We don't envisage that (a delay) to be the case," a spokesman said, noting that the European Union's executive, the European Commission, was already reviewing the proposed alliance in parallel with a British government investigation.

"It is thoroughly under consideration (already) and we look forward to the conclusion of the regulatory consideration."

Delta filed its complaint under the former Article 85 of the treaty, now numbered 82, which prohibits cartels within the European Union.

"Delta's complaint recommends that the European Commission open a separate procedure under Article 85 of the EC (European Union) Treaty to determine if the proposed alliance infringes EC competition law," Delta said in a statement.

Delta and other U.S. carriers have already intervened in the U.S. Department of Transportation's consideration of the proposed alliance's anti-trust immunity, without which American Airlines and British Airways would be regarded as colluding.

The department last week rejected the opponents' petition for a hearing before an administrative law judge and said it wanted to issue its decision by early next year.

FOCUS ON LONDON AIRPORT ACCESS

The European Commission has been working alongside an inquiry by Britain's Office of Fair Trading into the proposed alliance, in which the two carriers would operate transatlantic services as a profit-sharing joint venture, something that Delta and Air France SA are also seeking to do.

Access to London's lucrative but constrained Heathrow airport is the focus of opposition to the alliance, since British Airways, American and associated airlines would operate the majority of services to and from the facility.

"London's Heathrow Airport is the single most important European gateway for Europe-U.S. travellers, and it is the consumer who will lose access to competitive choices if the...deal is consummated," Delta said.

American and British Airways argue that other big European hubs are dominated by rival alliances: Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport by Delta and Air France and Frankfurt by UAL Corp's United Airlines and Deutsche Lufthansa AG .

British Airways and American sought antitrust protection for a similar alliance in the late 1990s. The Commission then demanded that they surrender more take-off and landing opportunities at Heathrow than they were prepared to lose.

American is the world's largest airline. British Airways is Europe's biggest.