Airlines Say No, Thanks on Deal OK
American Airlines and British Airways Say No, Thanks to Transportation Department Approval of Alliance

http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/020125/amer...irways_10.html


AMR, British Air reject U.S. conditions

American Airlines and British Airways pulled the plug on their would-be partnership and scolded the U.S. Transportation Department for imposing conditions that "do not make sense for either company."

In a terse joint statement, AMR chief Don Carty and his British Airways counterpart, Rod Eddington, said they would not "acquiesce to unrealistic and, in our view, unnecessary demands" put in place earlier Friday when the Transportation Department gave a preliminary nod to the controversial plan to team on flights to London's Heathrow Airport.

"We will not do this deal at this price," the executives' statement read. "We made it clear from the start that we would not conclude the deal if the regulatory price was too high. Regrettably, this has proved to be the case."

Citing the deal's potential as a catalyst for a broader open-skies agreement with the United Kingdom, the Transportation Department had laced its approval with numerous conditions aimed at opening 224 valuable takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow, the main gateway for U.S. flights into Britain.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo...90DA0A692AD%7D