Brussels, 22/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 21 October, the European Commission began consulting interested third parties on commitments proposed by airlines Air France/KLM, Alitalia and Delta to address concerns over their transatlantic cooperation as part of the Skyteam alliance. The Commission fears that the extensive cooperation may have adversely affected competition on the Paris-New York route (for premium passengers), Amsterdam-New York and Rome-New York (for premium and non-premium passengers).
The three airlines have offered to make landing and take-off slots available at both ends of the Amsterdam-New York and Rome-New York routes to facilitate the market entry of competitors. They are also prepared to enter into agreements which would enable competitors to offer tickets on their flights and facilitate access to connecting traffic, as well as to provide access to their frequent flyer programmes on all three routes.
The Commission opened a formal investigation in January 2012 and is now awaiting the submissions of interested third parties before taking a decision. If the market test indicates that the commitments are suitable to remedy the concerns, the Commission may make them legally binding on Air France/KLM, Alitalia and Delta. (EL)