KEY POINTS:
Sir Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Atlantic, has written to American presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, warning that a link-up between British Airways and American Airlines would be anti-competitive.
Branson is also reported to be ready to run a £3 million ($8.2 million) advertising campaign to scupper the deal. The Virgin chief's campaign comes as arch-rival BA plans to lodge an application in the United States this week to seek antitrust immunity for an alliance.
BA is also said to be ready to surrender its right to hundreds of transatlantic flights to try to win the backing of the American authorities, which vetoed the last attempt at a BA-AA deal in 2002, on competition grounds.
Then the US regulators wanted BA to give up 16 pairs of take-off and landing slots at London's Heathrow, a price BA deemed too high. BA will meet US Department of Justice officials this week and offer to give up the flights.
In his letter to Obama and McCain, Branson said the proposed alliance would mean "BA/AA would have a combination of high frequencies and a transatlantic network that could not be replicated by any other airline/alliance, and which would make it impossible for other carriers to compete for time-sensitive corporate or business travellers".
It would "severely damage competition on major transatlantic routes and leave consumers worse off".
Sources close to BA said Virgin had to recognise the whole competitive climate had changed.
- INDEPENDENT
