By Bate Felix
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission launched two antitrust investigations on Monday against certain members of the Star and Oneworld airline alliances on concerns their agreements on trans-atlantic routes might breach EU rules.
The probe relates to two sets of agreements between Star Alliance members Air Canada, Continental, Lufthansa and United on the one hand, and between Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia on the other.
The regulatory watchdog of the 27-nation European Union said the agreements provided for the coordination of the airlines' commercial, marketing and operational activities principally on routes between the EU and North America.
"When you have cooperation between airlines in such areas as pricing, schedules and capacity, we have to make sure that the consumer actually benefits," Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the European Union's executive Commission, told a news briefing.
If it found the airlines had broken EU rules, the Commission could order them to stop any illegal practices and fine them up to 10 percent of global turnover, he said.
A Commission statement said the level of cooperation under the arrangements in question appeared far more extensive than that generally extended between those airlines and others in the Star and Oneworld alliances.
"In particular, the parties to each agreement intend to jointly manage schedules, capacity, pricing and revenue management on trans-atlantic routes, as well as share revenues and sell tickets on these routes without preference between these carriers," the Commission said.
The Star Alliance investigation covers the existing trans-atlantic cooperation between Lufthansa and United and between Lufthansa and Air Canada, as well as a proposed four-party agreement among them and Continental.
The Commission said it would assess whether these joint activities may restrict competition but that it had no dispute over the formation of airline alliances as such.
"What we have potentially a problem with is the very specific and detailed cooperation between these airlines on such issues as schedules, capacity and pricing," Todd said.
He added that the investigation was in a preliminary stage and did not imply that the Commission had proof of wrongdoing.
The Commission said it had no strict deadline by which to complete its investigation.
(Editing by Dale Hudson)
