us seeks details from delta, virgin

US Seeks Details From Delta, Virgin Blue On Alliance Plan

By Doug Cameron
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
U.S. regulators have asked Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. (VBA.AU) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) for more information on their planned alliance, after having initially said they would block the pact.

The Department of Transportation in September had said it planned to deny an application for antitrust immunity that would have allowed the airlines to cooperate on pricing, revenue management and marketing on trans-Pacific routes.

In a filing Friday, DOT said it asked the carriers to provide more information after they had committed to revising the pact.

The Australian government has formally asked U.S. officials to reverse their opposition, having approved the proposed deal last December.

The case is being closely watched as it involves an antitrust application for an airline outside of the three global alliances that dominate the global airline industry. Regulators have approved numerous antitrust applications involving members of the SkyTeam, Star and Oneworld groupings.

Delta is a member of SkyTeam, and has antitrust immunity with a number of European and Asian alliance partners, while Virgin Blue is unaffiliated.

U.S. officials had said in tentatively blocking any deal that the carriers hadn't demonstrated that the proposed alliance would produce sufficient public benefits, such as lower fares and increased capacity, to justify an exemption from U.S. antitrust laws.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; [email protected]