KEY FACTS ALL CONSUMERS SHOULD KNOW

• BA/AA is bad news for consumers - it would create a dominant alliance at Heathrow that will lead to higher prices and less choice
• BA/AA would have a stranglehold on Heathrow-US flights
• Anti-trust immunity would allow the airlines to fix prices
• The scale of this tie up would dwarf all other alliances out of their European hubs
• The recent 'Open Skies' agreement is a red herring; it was always a pre-requisite for approving alliances between UK and US airlines
• "Open Skies" has not led to significant increases in competition
• Existing airlines will struggle to compete against this dominance and new entrants will be deterred
• BA won't face enough competition to stop it from raising prices

Sir Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic:

"Make no mistake a BA/AA alliance third time around would still be bad for passengers, bad for competition and bad for the UK and US aviation industry".

Typical LHR-JFK schedule for Winter 2008 from OAG and Virgin analysis.

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