Final approval has been given for British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia has been given for the upcoming Transatlantic Joint Venture from the European Union, and will allow them to work together more closely.
This gives them immunity from anti-trust laws that prevent price and schedule coordination.
For this plan to work, there has been one major concession – the removal of 4 slot pairs from the JV to allow competition on routes between New York, Boston, Dallas and Miami from London Heathrow.
For BA, AA and IB, this is good news, leaving only the US Authorities to please.
However, a certain other airline has now been manoeuvred into a corner.
Virgin Atlantic has opposed the deal from the outset, saying consumers will loss out, where in fact it will be fighting for the scraps on the table, as Virgin Atlantic will now squeezed by all three alliances who have anti-trust immunity and can compete with Virgin harder.
Who knows, this could be the final straw for Virgin Atlantic to stop playing by itself to actually go an join an alliance….
