In examining a oneworld alliance antitrust immunity application highlighted by a proposed American Airlines/British Airways/Iberia joint venture, the U.S. Department of Transportation on Dec. 22 "established a supplemental comment period--through January 11" for interested parties "to respond to late-filed pleadings." One such late filing, submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice, argued that the proposed agreements "would result in competitive harm on certain transatlantic routes serving 2.5 million passengers annually" and increase fares "up to 15 percent."
I landed in the Middle East on Tuesday morning (local time) and my Blackberry awoke to a surge of messages about an
article published by Tnooz about the DOJ making calls to certain Farelogix customers. After reading the article, I felt compelled to respond to the comments made by the Sabre representative.
To the Sabre comment about the “evolution of the Farelogix business model to one of content fragmentation,” I offer the following three points:
Much has been made of the DOT’s decision to proceed with minimal restrictions on the approval of the enlargement of the Star Alliance with CO and the approval of the new A++ group. It seems that the DOJ had little influence over the decision despite laying out very clear anti-competitive objections to the proposed (and now approved) action. This would indicate a clear differing of opinions in the matters of air transport amongst the new Administration.
