May 19th, 2009
oneworld Alliance Answers by Allied Pilots, ASTA ITSA, DFW Airport, and Spirit Airlines
American Airlines, Inc., British Airways Plc, Finnair Oyj, Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana, S.A. and Royal Jordanian Airlines OST-2008-0252 - Antitrust Immunity May 18, 2009 Public Answer of The Allied Pilots Association The terms of the Joint Business Agreement do not favor U.S. labor. On the contrary, they restrict the expansion of U.S. flying in the most favorable EU markets and deny to U.S. labor the full benefits of the new opportunities resulting fi"om the U.S. - EU Open Skies Agreement. Accordingly, the APA strongly opposes granting anti-trust immunity in this case. It respectfully requests that the Department of Transportation deny the Joint Application or - at the very least - that it require the Joint Applicants to provide stringent protections for U.S. labor. Counsel: James & Hoffman, Marie Chopra, 202-496-0500 American Airlines Pilots Form Letter in Opposition May 18, 2009 Answer of The American Society of Travel Agents and The Interactive Travel Services Association - Bookmarked Motion for Confidential Treatment Under 14 CFR 302.12 Forcing travel agents and corporate accounts to negotiate with very large carriers as a block for access to their combined transatlantic route networks would radically tip the negotiating scales even further in favor of airlines, and result in even higher fares. With their dominant position in the critical U.S.-Heathrow market, the Joint Applicants would have powerful leverage against travel agents. No individual agency could hope to compete with other travel agencies and airlines’ websites if it lost the ability to sell the transatlantic services of the oneworld carriers, particularly their Heathrow services. This added leverage could degrade and even destroy any online travel agency or traditional "brick and mortar" agency that refused to succumb to lower compensation or the increased demands of the combined alliance carriers Counsel: Pillsbury Winthrop, Kenneth Quinn, 202-663-8000 May 18, 2009 Answer of The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Support - Bookmarked Exhibits of DFW Airport The world and the aviation world have undergone fundamental upheaval and change that make the benefits and efficiencies produced by the relief requested herein a necessity, not a nicety. Without the grant of ATI, the Joint Applicants will not be on an even playing field with the Star or SkyTeam alliances or alliance airlines, and, as a result, competition will suffer enormously. A grant of ATI for the Joint Applicants’ proposed alliance will unleash enormous public benefits for DFW-area consumers, the Airport, and travelers nationwide, including new and expanded transatlantic services, lower fares, additional schedule alternatives, shorter connection times, full frequent flier program reciprocity, and the enhanced inter-alliance competition so desperately lacking. In particular, DFW will gain expanded and more convenient DFW‑London flights and a new DFW‑Madrid non‑stop service. Consumers throughout the Western U.S. will enjoy the untapped potential of DFW‑Madrid as a transatlantic pipeline. Furthermore, All will remedy the competitive disadvantage that DFW‑area consumers currently suffer and produce over $240 million annually in benefits for the North Texas economy. Because the LHR competitive environment has changed so drastically since the last American/BA request for ATI, the Department has no reason to impose conditions on the ATI that would render its cost too high and thus deprive consumers of all these benefits. Counsel: Silverberg Goldman, Michael Goldman, 202-944-3305 May 18, 2009 Answer of Spirit Airlines Spirit does not take a position on whether the Department should approve these agreements and grant the requested antitrust immunity. However, the grant of any antitrust immunity must not extend to codeshare flights involving restricted entry markets in South America. As the Department knows, American, through its Miami International hub, dominates the market between South Florida and destinations in South America including to non-open skies countries that limit the number of U.S. carriers that can serve a market, restrict frequencies or restrict both entry and frequencies. American should not be free to discuss fares (beyond conventional pro-rate agreements) or engage in revenue pooling or other conduct that may violate antitrust laws for codeshare flights to restricted markets that could enable American to distort competitive pricing in the local markets. Spirit urges the Department to impose a condition similar to that imposed in its Skyteam Alliance decision making clear that any grant of immunity does not apply within any market for non-transatlantic international air transportation. See, Skyteam Alliance, Order to Show Cause 2008-4-17 (April 9, 2008). The restriction in the Skyteam flowed from the potential for collateral impact on domestic and other competition from the presence of two U.S. carriers in the immunized alliance. However, a similar concern clearly is created in this proceeding because of the severe restrictions on competition imposed by non-open skies bilateral agreements in various codeshare markets. The presence of open skies is the sine qua non for grant of antitrust immunity. Counsel: Kirstein & Young, Joanne Young, 202-331-3348
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oneworld Alliance Answers by Allied Pilots, ASTA ITSA, DFW Airport, and Spirit Airlines