Arpey Sees US, EU Approving AA, BA, Iberia ATI This Summer

The U.S. Department of Transportation will grant final approval of American Airlines' antitrust-immune joint venture with British Airways and Iberia by the end of next month, with the requisite European approvals to follow in the summer, American CEO Gerard Arpey said this week during the carrier's annual stockholders meeting in New York.

"We anticipate DOT final approval of our joint business proposal by the end of the second quarter, with EU approval following in mid-summer," Arpey told investors.

More than three months past its Oct. 31 statutory deadline, DOT in mid-February this year tentatively approved the joint venture with the condition that the carriers relinquish four daily slot pairs at London Heathrow Airport. That tentative approval kicked off a 45-day comment period, now concluded.

The European Commission, meanwhile, has been undertaking a separate review of the alliance. Last September, EC expressed concerns that the joint venture would violate antitrust rules, prompting the carriers to offer up slots between London Heathrow or Gatwick airports and Boston, New York, Dallas and Miami. That review remains in progress.

American, BA and Iberia have contended that the joint venture allows them to better compete across the Atlantic against two other already-approved antitrust-immune joint ventures: one between SkyTeam members Delta and Air France-KLM and the other among Star Alliance carriers Air Canada, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa and United Airlines.