Northwest-Delta Antitrust Exemption Rejected by U.S.
12-23-2006, 12:10 PM
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Northwest-Delta Antitrust Exemption Rejected by U.S.
Someone with a big brain let me know if this article was even worth posting and what your take is. Thanks in advance. Merry Christmas,
Tom
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aChxZxQssMN8
By John Hughes
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Transportation Department rejected an antitrust exemption to let bankrupt carriers Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. collaborate on international flights, citing a lack of benefit to the public.
Northwest sought the waiver over the objection of its biggest U.S. rivals to work with Delta, Air France-KLM and Alitalia SpA in SkyTeam, the world's second-largest airline alliance. The request was the first time two major U.S. carriers sought antitrust immunity to collaborate.
The department instead proposed letting the six SkyTeam carriers sell tickets for one another's flights, a practice known as code sharing. Northwest, the No. 4 U.S. airline, plans to ask the department to reverse the decision, which the carrier today said hinders its efforts to exit bankruptcy.
The exemption would have let Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest boost the $1 billion in annual revenue it takes in through an existing agreement with KLM. Northwest would have joined the other carriers in funneling passengers to each other's networks and operating more like a single entity by cooperating on route planning, marketing and setting prices.
``Antitrust immunity is tantamount to a merger in competitive terms,'' said Michael Roach of San Francisco-based Roach & Sbarra Consulting. ``It's not surprising to me those guys were unable to convince the government. The government is going to continue to be very cautious. The goal always is competition.''
Tom
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aChxZxQssMN8
By John Hughes
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Transportation Department rejected an antitrust exemption to let bankrupt carriers Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. collaborate on international flights, citing a lack of benefit to the public.
Northwest sought the waiver over the objection of its biggest U.S. rivals to work with Delta, Air France-KLM and Alitalia SpA in SkyTeam, the world's second-largest airline alliance. The request was the first time two major U.S. carriers sought antitrust immunity to collaborate.
The department instead proposed letting the six SkyTeam carriers sell tickets for one another's flights, a practice known as code sharing. Northwest, the No. 4 U.S. airline, plans to ask the department to reverse the decision, which the carrier today said hinders its efforts to exit bankruptcy.
The exemption would have let Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest boost the $1 billion in annual revenue it takes in through an existing agreement with KLM. Northwest would have joined the other carriers in funneling passengers to each other's networks and operating more like a single entity by cooperating on route planning, marketing and setting prices.
``Antitrust immunity is tantamount to a merger in competitive terms,'' said Michael Roach of San Francisco-based Roach & Sbarra Consulting. ``It's not surprising to me those guys were unable to convince the government. The government is going to continue to be very cautious. The goal always is competition.''
12-24-2006, 10:19 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Nov 2006
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Originally Posted by Fly4hire
Check the link - story dated 12/22/2005.
Yawn....
Yawn....
the merger, how does that play on the merger now?
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