British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) hasn't yet submitted further information to the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding its U.S. antitrust immunity, or ATI, application.

The U.S. regulator requested further information Dec. 19 from BA, AMR Corp's (AMR) American Airlines and Spain's Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA (IBLA.MC) about their potential tie-up, including queries as to any potential capacity and pricing decisions they may adopt.

The antitrust immunity status would bypass monopoly laws in the U.S., allowing BA, American and Iberia to work together on scheduling and pricing. The planned tie-up would also be a revenue-sharing deal.

A spokesman for British Airways told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday, "The Department of Transportation has set no timetable for us to provide the additional information it has requested. The DOT request for information requires very detailed answers and we want to respond to the issues raised as fully as possible.

"Once the work is completed, we will submit all the relevant information."

Given that the joint applicants are requesting global immunity, the DOT required further information on worldwide plans and operations, including the alliance's plans and operations in the Pacific, Australian and Latin American markets.

In addition, the DOT called for additional detail about hub rationalization and code-sharing, as well as how a joint business agreement would affect corporate and travel agency relationships.

Airport operator BAA, which is owned by Grupo Ferrovial SA (FER.MC) and Airport Coordination Ltd., has already jointly submitted a response to a request for additional information from the DOT.

A spokesman for BAA said: "We are lucky as all major alliances operate at Heathrow and use it as a hub," in particular BA, which has 40% of slots.

He said the three major alliances, Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance, all use Heathrow as a hub, with enough airlines within the alliances to allow customers to choose among airlines and benefit from priviledges linked to alliances, such as the transfer of air miles or the use of a lounge.

Given the shift toward airlines developing alliances and working more closely together on a operational basis, BAA is currently in the process of moving airlines to terminals according to alliances, which will help assist transfers and baggage handling, BAA's spokesman said,

However, he noted that the potential for more competition being added to the market was limited - 99% of the slots are taken at Heathrow Aiport - because of a lack of capacity and the ownership structure of slots.

The BAA spokesman said that the only time BAA may intervene would be on the logisitical side and if there were limited slot availability for certain aircraft - the A380, for example.

Company Web site: www.britishairway.com

                     www.aa.com 
                     www.iberia.com

-By Kaveri Niththyananthan, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420-7842-9299; kaveri.niththyananthan@dowjones.com