American Defends Plan for British Airways Alliance NYTimes.com

American Airlines rejected on Wednesday claims by a rival, Virgin Atlantic, that a proposed alliance between American and British Airways would create a monopoly on trans-Atlantic service from Heathrow Airport.

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American’s response came in a filing with the United States Transportation Department, which is reviewing the airlines’ request for antitrust immunity.

If American Airlines, a unit of the AMR Corporation, and British Airways receive approval, they will service 443 destinations in 106 countries with nearly 6,300 daily departures.

The bid is the third time in a dozen years that American and British Airways have sought permission to combine their codes on flights between the United States and Heathrow, near London.

British Airways is in merger talks with Iberia, which is part of the immunity request, along with Royal Jordanian and Finnair.

Two earlier efforts by British Airways and American failed, after authorities in Washington told the airlines that they would have to give up some weekly flights at Heathrow.

The United States and Europe have signed an “open skies” treaty since the airlines’ last attempt in 2002, a pact that has expanded competition at Heathrow, where American and United had previously been the only American-based carriers with approval to operate.

Two other airline alliances — the Star Alliance and Sky Team — have received antitrust immunity, allowing members to combine their flight codes.

Still, Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Atlantic, has denounced the proposal by American and British Airways as a “monster monopoly” that would be bad for competition and for the American and British aviation markets.

Mr. Branson said that the two airlines would have nearly 60 percent of passengers between the United States and Heathrow, and up to 79 percent of seats on some routes. Virgin Atlantic, which has challenged the combination in a complaint filed with the Transportation Department, has started a publicity campaign, painting some of its planes with the slogan “No Way, AA/BA.”

But American, in its filing on Wednesday, said that it and British Airways would hold an overall market share of 43.6 percent on flights from Heathrow to the United States.

The greatest market share would be on flights from Kennedy International Airport in New York to Heathrow, where the airlines would have 52.3 percent. American said it had based the estimates on market data for July.

“Virgin has a history of being a bit fast and loose with the numbers, and it is incumbent on us to set the record straight,” Don Casey, the managing director for international planning at American, said in an interview.

Asked how American expected Virgin to react, he added, “I guess they’re going to have to go back and look at their numbers.”

But the director of communications at Virgin Atlantic, Paul Charles, said his airline’s numbers were based on passenger data from the Transportation Department. In an e-mail message, Mr. Charles said American’s figures did not give a complete picture of the number of travelers on those routes.

“American and B.A. are in panic mode, as they simply can’t defend the indefensible,” Mr. Charles said. “That’s why they can only resort to attacking their rivals, rather than talk about the fact that their alliance would only push up prices and squeeze out competitors.”

Executives at American have said they hope to get a ruling on their request before the Bush administration leaves office in January. Mr. Casey said the airline had gone to “extraordinary lengths” to help speed the case, including holding briefings for Transportation Department officials before the request was filed last month.

The European Commission has also opened an investigation into the airlines’ request for antitrust immunity.

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