Air Transport

American Airlines chief Gerard Arpey remains confident the US major and fellow Oneworld members will achieve regulatory approval for their anti-trust immunity application, but says failure to do so would not spell the end of the alliance.

On 14 August 2008, American, British Airways (BA) and Iberia, along with Finnair and Royal Jordanian Airlines, filed for anti-trust immunity with the US DOT for a joint agreement on flights between North America and Europe.

It marked the third time American and BA have applied for anti-trust immunity. Previous attempts have been thwarted by regulatory demands for steep slot penalties at London Heathrow.

"It is not a secret that we have felt handicapped by the fact that we don't have immunity over the North Atlantic," said Arpey today during a conference call to discuss parent AMR Corp's 2008 net loss of $2.1 billion.

However, he fully expects the grouping to achieve regulatory approval of its antitrust immunity application, which will pave the way for American's planned joint business agreement with BA and Iberia "and help Oneworld compete more effectively with other global alliances".

Asked if the alliance would be threatened if DOT rejects oneworld's application, Arpey says:" We want to level the playing field to compete with SkyTeam and Star. If we don't get it approved this year, which I think would be unlikely, I do not think that spells the end of Oneworld. I think it would be a big setback, a big disappointment, but it would not be, in my view, the end of Oneworld by any means."