American Airlines said today they are delighted by an order tentatively giving the airlines permission to codeshare on a wide number of flights beyond the carriers’ gateways in the United Kingdom and the United States. Today’s U.S. Department of Transportation ruling provides a comment period until April 21. The carriers plan to begin codesharing as soon as possible if
the order is made final.
The agreement will enable American to place its code on British Airways flights beyond American’s U.K. gateways to key destinations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. American will also place its code on British Airways’ transatlantic service between New York’s JFK and Manchester.
British Airways, in turn, will put its code on American’s flights beyond BA’s U.S. gateway cities to points within the U.S. and to
Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. British Airways will also place its code on American’s flights between Chicago and Glasgow and Manchester. The carriers will not codeshare on each other’s transatlantic services to London.
In a joint statement, British Airways Chief Executive Rod Eddington and AA Chairman and CEO Don Carty said:
“Today’s decision is a significant milestone in our relationship, allowing us to offer access to more online destinations, improve transfer and check-in processes, and bring our consumers all the benefits that codesharing and enhanced competition allow. It will also help underpin the continued success of oneworld, of which we are both prominent members.
“And although we do not have the antitrust immunity that other global alliances enjoy on the North Atlantic, this move is clearly a step in the right direction,” the executives said.
Carty thanked a bipartisan group of 39 U.S. Senators and over 90 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who supported the application. The group was led by Senators Don Nickles, R-Okla; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; **** Durbin, D-Ill and Representatives Martin Frost, D-Texas; Henry Bonilla, R-Texas; and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
“Their support for our proposal was unwavering,” Carty said. American and British Airways are founding members of the oneworld global alliance, which serves more than 550 cities in 41 countries around the globe.
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Well it is a step in the right direction, however, it is limited with flights from London to the USA still not allowed to be codeshared on.
By: mongu - 11th April 2003 at 23:43
I agree with Saab.
However, tricky ricky might re-adopt the slogan for PR purposes, even if Virgin don’t really believe it. That is certainly what happened with “4 engines 4 long haul”.
By: Saab 2000 - 11th April 2003 at 09:05
I’m not sure if the “No Way BA/AA” would apply in this case. At the time it was a protest against BA and AA’s proposed alliance across the Atlantic and the huge number of flights it would control. Generally I think Virgin’s stance on the matter has changed since Oneworld was formed.
By: greekdude1 - 11th April 2003 at 06:15
Kind of went off the subject there, going back on the subject; Will Branson re-aply the “NO WAY BA/AA!” to the new silver scheme in the wake of this approval?
By: greekdude1 - 11th April 2003 at 03:23
All good points Mongu, very valid. Airbus is no doubt doing very well right now, after a rather slow start with the A300. I have equal admiration for certain Airbus products, as well as for certain Boeing products. I hope the A380 is a HUGE success. I also hope that Boeing learns something from the A380’s huge success and pulls their heads out of their asses. If Airbus did in fact come from the ashes of the Concorde, great. At least they are profitable now, considering how much money was lost in the whole Concorde ordeal, as I mentioned before. It’s a shame even more money was lost spending all that money retrofitting them after the Air France disaster, only to have them fly for a couple more years.
By: mongu - 10th April 2003 at 23:29
Yes GD, but the ashes of Concorde created Boeing’s nemesis – Airbus Industrie.
Also, the Concorde consortium set the tone for collaborations (usually minus the French) such as Sepecat (Jaguar), Panavia (Tornado) and Eurofighter (Typhoon) as well as the mighty A380!
By: greekdude1 - 10th April 2003 at 21:20
I agree, the U.S. were probably a little jealous of the fact they never developed a supersonic transport unlike the Anglo/French and the Russians. They pretty much shelved that and developed the 747 which has roughly 1,500 airframes and counting(slowly but surely) vs. 16? Not bad.
By: mongu - 10th April 2003 at 20:29
Well, the US were extremely vocal opponents of Concorde and tried a few times to get it banned from US airspace. They seemed to really hate Concorde, so yeah, maybe they were prepared to be flexible if BA played ball.
By: greekdude1 - 10th April 2003 at 20:21
I agree with you Saab. What’s the point of an alliance if you can’t can’t codeshare amongst every member involved? As far as U.S. payback goes, i’m sure the U.S. have been crying since day 1 that Concorde was operational, considering Concorde has been a financial bust since the developmental stages, all the way through it’s operational service. Spending all that money to build a total of 16 airframes? NICE!!!
By: Saab 2000 - 10th April 2003 at 19:57
Well they’ve got what they asked for, a code-share like UA/BD and CO/VS. But they don’t have ATI, which ultimately they want.
But anyway, it is good news for both airlines and makes Oneworld seem a bit less of a joke.
By: mongu - 10th April 2003 at 19:08
Looks like US payback for BA’s retirement of Concorde.
By: greekdude1 - 10th April 2003 at 17:58
With the exception of the Heathrow-U.S. flights, which they obviously still didn’t get approval on, otherwise, is this pretty much the type of codeshare that they’ve been seeking approval for, in the last few years?
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April 10, 2003 at 9:35 am