Star Alliance Antitrust

Order 2007-2-16
OST-2005-22922 - Approval of and Antitrust Immunity for Alliance Expansion Agreements and an Amended Coordination Agreement
OST-1996-1434 - Approval of and Antitrust Immunity for Commercial Alliance Agreements

Issued and Served February 13, 2007

Final Order

We grant approval and antitrust immunity, as limited and discussed by Order 2006-12-17, Order 1996-5-27 (concerning the United/ Lufthansa alliance and limited carve-out conditions), Order 1997-9-21 (concerning U.S.-Canada markets and limited carve-out conditions), Order 2002-4-4 (concerning U.S.-UK open skies), and Order 2003-6-39 (concerning U.S.-UK open skies), to the alliance agreements between and among Air Canada, the Austrian Group, British Midland Airways Limited, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., Scandinavian Air Lines System, Swiss International Airlines, Ltd., TAP Air Portugal, and United Air Lines, Inc. in so far as the alliance agreements relate to foreign air transportation.

We condition our grant of approval and global immunity to Air Canada on the implementation of the Protocol to the Air Transport Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada, initialed on November 10, 2005, providing for full open skies between the United States and Canada.

American believes that the public interest is not served by expanding Star’s antitrust immunity in the absence of a regulatory framework that allows for more inter-alliance competition. To the extent that American urges the Department to grant immunity for a future competing alliance, its comments are premature. No such case has been filed; we will consider any new case according to its particular facts and circumstances. To the extent that American indicates opposition to the present application, its comments are unsupported. American has not objected to any of the specific competitive or public interest findings upon which the tentative grant of approval and immunity is based.

By: Andrew Steinberg