Star Airlines Neutral On Rival Alliance As Own Grouping Expands
27 Octubre 2009 - 1:17PM
Noticias Dow Jones
The head of United Airlines praised efforts by British Airways
PLC and American Airlines to secure anti-trust immunity for their
alliance as he outlined plans to expand the scope of the U.S.
carrier's own industry grouping.
Glenn Tilton, chairman and chief executive of United parent UAL
Corp. (UAUA), said he remained "neutral" on the application by BA,
American and three other members of their Oneworld alliance to
secure immunity and deepen cooperation.
United and other members of its Star Alliance grouping already
have extensive immunity to coordinate schedules, pricing and
marketing, and calls from BA and American for a level playing field
have been a key part of their application to regulators on both
sides of the Atlantic.
"I think they have made their argument well," Tilton told Dow
Jones Newswires of the efforts by Oneworld carriers to secure
parity with Star and members of SkyTeam, the third global alliance
group, which also has immunity.
BA and American, a unit of AMR Corp. (AMR), are expected to have
to wait until after an Oct. 31 deadline set by U.S. Department of
Transportation officials to hear if their application has been
successful. People close to the situation said Oneworld's
application is being delayed by efforts by DOT to accommodate
concerns expressed by the Department of Justice about airline
competition policy.
While Tilton has been a staunch advocate of industry
liberalization, he and other executives in Star had been vocal
opponents of two previous attempts by Oneworld to secure
immunity.
Members of Star and SkyTeam have made almost no comment on the
latest bid by Oneworld, in part because of more intense scrutiny by
European regulators of existing and proposed alliances on
competition grounds.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chief executive of Star member Deutsche
Lufthansa AG, said Tuesday that he was "not afraid of the tests"
being applied by regulators. "At the end of the day logic will
prevail," he said at an event held at Newark Liberty International
Airport near New York to mark the entry of Continental Airlines
Inc. (CAL) into Star.
Larry Kellner, Continental's chairman and chief executive, said
the airline hoped to extend anti-trust immunity on routes to the
Pacific for the first time if the U.S. and Japan can agree
liberalized open-skies air services treaty. Kellner, who steps down
at the end of the year, told Dow Jones Newswires that he envisaged
a deeper transpacific pact involving United and All Nippon Airways
Inc., another member of Star.
Continental's move from SkyTeam - the first defection within the
three alliances - takes Star's membership to 25 carriers, and it
could expand further with efforts to bolster its presence in Latin
America.
Marcelo Varella, director of alliances at Brazil's Tam Airlines,
said he envisaged that it could be joined in Star at a future time
by Panama's Copa Airlines - a former SkyTeam member, as well as
merger partners Grupo Taca and Avianca.
However, Star members do see limits to the alliance's ability
expand in some regions. Hussein Massoud, chairman and chief
executive of Egyptair, said there was no room for a third Middle
East carrier to join his company and Turkish Airlines in Star.
Fast-growing Middle East carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and
Qatar Airways are not members of any global alliance.
-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires, 312 731 6910;
doug.cameron@dowjones.com