A senior U.S. transportation official said Thursday that there was no "breakdown" with Justice Department colleagues in assessing competition in the airline industry.

Robert Rivkin, general counsel at the Department of Transportation, said the agencies had developed a "harmonized" approach to the sector despite using different methodologies.

"It's not a clash of methodology," Rivkin said at an industry conference in Chicago.

DOT has final jurisdiction in airline competition matters, but comments this year from Justice on an application for antitrust immunity, or ATI, by members of the Star airline alliance had raised speculation about a policy rift.

"They came from a different place," said Rivkin of DOJ's approach to the airline industry.

"What we saw [in Star] was an effective harmonization of those views," he said at an industry conference in Chicago.

DOJ had weighed in with a series of objections to the ATI application by members of Star, which is led by United Airlines parent UAL Corp. (UAUA) and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. (DLAKY).

Most of the objections were rejected by transport officials in approving the expansion of Star to include Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL).

DOT is expected to make a decision by late October on the ATI application by members of their Oneworld alliance, led by British Airways PLC (BAIRY) and the American Airlines unit of AMR Corp. (AMR).

Rivkin made no comment on the pending Oneworld application.

This is the airlines' third effort to secure immunity and gain parity with members of Star and SkyTeam, the third global alliance. Two previous attempts were dropped after the concessions sought from regulators were seen as too onerous.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com