BA/AA Okay

On 20 July 2010 the United States Department of Transportation announced that it had granted anti-trust immunity to an 'integrated' alliance between American Airlines (AA) and four of its oneworld partners, British Airways (BA), Iberia, Finnair and Royal Jordanian. The docket number is DOT-OST-2008-0252. The airlines only had to surrender four pairs of slots at London Heathrow (LHR) airport.

In a 15 July 2010 post Aviation Law Prof Blog covers the European Commission approval of the alliance given on 14 July. The BBC also carried a report. The Commission required the surrender of 49 weekly slots at LHR.

This brings to an end a lengthy process that started over a decade ago. The first attempt by AA and BA to gain approval dates back to 1997 while a second attempt was also knocked back.

The alliance had long been opposed by Virgin Atlantic. I recall seeing their aircraft painted with the slogan No way BA/AA.