Virgin Atlantic Urges U.S. Transport Regulator In A Regulatory Filing To
Examine American Airlines' Hypocrisy On Market Dominance
SOUTH NORWALK, Conn., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin Atlantic, one of the
world's leading long-haul airlines, today asked U.S. regulators in a
regulatory filing to act on hypocritical comments made by the head of American
Airlines about what constitutes dominance in aviation markets.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090622/NY35752LOGO )
Commenting on Delta's plans to persuade Japanese airline JAL to switch to
SkyTeam, the CEO of American Airlines, Gerard Arpey, told his managers that
Delta's "extensive presence" at Tokyo's Narita Airport would make it difficult
for Delta to obtain antitrust immunity from the Department of Transportation
for the carrier's planned joint venture with JAL.
Delta and JAL together would have lower market shares between the U.S. and
Narita than BA/AA would have between the U.S. and Heathrow.
Mr. Arpey also told his managers that American Airlines would raise strong
regulatory objections to Delta and JAL's collaboration and expressly said that
that "if JAL were to change horses (from Oneworld), we would certainly argue
that they might not be allowed to even code-share, let alone have immunity
with the dominant carrier in Narita."
American has vowed to fight the linkup between two of the largest players in
the U.S.-Japan market on competition grounds, arguing that the carriers' high
combined market shares and large slot holdings at Narita (a severely
constrained airport like London Heathrow) would pose a major threat to
competition.
Yet, Mr. Arpey argues that it's fine for regulators to let through American's
planned merger with BA, which would have market share levels of between 47%
and 100%.
Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, said:
"Virgin Atlantic absolutely agrees with American Airlines that a high level of
market concentration should be an insurmountable hurdle to obtain antitrust
immunity for a possible alliance such as BA/AA. Mr. Arpey has clearly
highlighted why dominant groups like AA and BA shouldn't be given regulatory
clearance. We have asked the DoT to further investigate his views as American
cannot have it both ways."
The Delta-JAL joint venture would result in a total capacity share on
U.S.-Narita routes of 54%, significantly smaller than the 64% share that BA/AA
would hold on U.S.-Heathrow routes.
In addition, the Delta-JAL joint venture would result in overlaps on services
between Narita and only three mainland U.S. cities (LAX, SFO and JFK) where
their combined share of capacity would range between 36% and 60%. In marked
contrast, the BA/AA alliance would result in overlaps on six routes, where
their combined capacity share ranges between a remarkable 47% to an astounding
100%.
Mr. Arpey's remarks follow comments from Bob Crandall, who was Chairman and
CEO of American Airlines when it first tried to merge with BA in 1996. He
recently said: "Any objective observer would have to look very hard to find a
way in which alliances have benefited consumers."
For further information please visitwww.virginatlantic.com.
SOURCE Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic Airways, U.S. Press Office, +1-203-750-2570
