Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Delta propose commitments to alleviate EU antitrust concerns

European Commission called (21-Oct-2014) for feedback on commitments from SkyTeam partners Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines regarding their transatlantic cooperation. The carrier have proposed commitments to the Commission in order to address concerns "their transatlantic cooperation may harm competition for premium passengers on the Paris-New York route and for all passengers on the Amsterdam-New York and Rome-New York routes, in breach of EU antitrust rules." Each carrier has offered to make slots available at both ends of their Amsterdam-New York and Rome-New York services, to facilitate the entry of competitors. The Commission stated: "In addition, the companies committed to enter into fare combinability and special prorate agreements with competitors who start operating new nonstop services or increase their nonstop services on the three routes. For Paris-New York, this also applies to existing nonstop competitors on the route. These agreements would enable competitors to offer tickets on the companies' flights and facilitate access to connecting traffic. The companies are also prepared to allow passengers of new entrants without an equivalent frequent flyer programme to accrue and redeem miles on the parties' frequent flyer programmes." [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]