DoT tentative approval of Continental/Star ATI Appliacation

JUST IN

The US Department of Tranposrtation (DoT) today (07APR09) tentatively approved the application of Continental Airlines joining existing antitrust immunized (ATI) alliance between UNITED and 8 other Star Alliance members.

Continental stated numerous time that only with the approval will help the airline to proceed full transition from SkyTeam to Star Alliance this fall.

The current Star Alliance members received the tentative approval for ATI are: Air Canada, Austrian, bmi, Lufthansa, LOT Polish Airlines, SAS, SWISS, TAP Portugal

With the approval, Star Alliance will be able to expand its integrated joint-venture “Atlantic Plus-Plus” from existing 4 members to 9. According to the document, few restrictions are:

*No cooperation on Domestic US allowed
*The expanded Atlantic Plus-Plus will be required for implementation within 18 months
*Annual reports of the status of the “Atlantic Plus-Plus”
*Before the “Atlantic Plus-Plus” is implemented, limited “carve out**” is in place for Chicago – Frankfurt and Washington – Frankfurt for Trans-Atlantic. However, “Carve out” on Chicago – Toronto, San Francisco – Toronto on the Trans-border route will not be removed regardless.

**”Carve out”, which prohibits airline partners from coordinating the sale of air transportation to a narrowly defined group of passengers, particularly time-sensitive travelers, who are more likely to rely on nonstop flights and premium service options and who are the most likely to feel the effects of reduced competition. Airlines are prohibited from coordinating fares for unrestricted coach, business, and first class traffic for U.S. point-of-sale

Docket 2008-0234-0193