Virgin Atlantic’s transatlantic joint venture with Delta has been given preliminary clearance by the US Department of Transportation.
The DOT said that the joint business was likely to benefit consumers flying between the UK and US as it would provide more competition to existing alliances such as the British Airways-American Airlines’ tie-up.
Delta has already completed the purchase of a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic. The two carriers are also now selling each other’s flights and operating an extensive codeshare agreement.
“If the decision is made final, Delta and Virgin Atlantic would be able to more closely co-ordinate their operations between North America and the United Kingdom,” said the DOT in a statement.
“The department tentatively concluded that the alliance would benefit passengers by providing stronger competition with existing alliances in the US-Europe market and that it would be unlikely to have anti-competitive effects.”
The DOT has given two weeks for objections to be lodged against the joint business. If there are no objections then the joint venture would be formally approved.
Meanwhile a US judge has set November 25 as the date for the start of the trial which will determine whether the American Airlines-US Airways merger can go ahead.
The US Department of Justice launched a lawsuit to stop the proposed merger last month and had wanted the case to be heard in March 2014, whereas the airlines called for the trial to start on November 12.
But US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said hearing the case in March was “too far off”. The case has been scheduled to last 10 days.
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