Branson slams EU Commission over tie-up - FT

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - The founder of Virgin Group VGIAY.PK, Richard Branson, has slammed the European Commission's handling of a proposed tie-up between British Airways BAY.L and American Airlines AMR.N in an interview published on Monday.

British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia IBLA.MC, members of the Oneworld alliance, want to deepen the pact to take advantage of the U.S./EU "Open Skies" agreement, which liberalises trans-Atlantic aviation.

But Branson, who last month called proposals by Oneworld members to cede a number of lucrative trans-Atlantic slots in an in effort to seal approval for the alliance "woefully inadequate", said he strongly opposed such an alliance.

"We actually believe the Commission should just say: No way BA-AA'" Branson told the Financial Times.

"The way the Commission is currently going about it is fundamentally flawed and misguided, and to be honest it's rather a lazy approach," he said.

Alliances are seen as a lucrative alternative to mergers and large-scale investments. The airlines want to jointly manage schedules, capacity and pricing as well as share revenues on routes between North America and Europe.

The commission opened an investigation into a planned alliance last April. But Branson said the commission should treat the proposed tie-up as a merger.

"In every other way they'll be behaving as a single entity," Branson said.

"So we believe that the Commission should be treating it as they would treat any merger situation."

Last week British Airways and Spain's Iberia signed an $8 billion merger to create the world's third-largest airline, bringing a three-way tie-up with American Airlines a step closer. [nLDE63707M] (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)