§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses were received by the deadline of 4 September to his invitation for comments on the Director General of Fair Trading's advice on the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines. [64713]
§ Mr. MandelsonThe Office of Fair Trading received forty one written representations following my invitation on 6 August for comments to be sent to them on the Director-General of Fair Trading's advice.
§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason he has delayed announcing a final decision on approval of the alliance between British Airways and American Airlines beyond the Autumn as announced in a Departmental press release of 8 July. [64714]
§ Mr. MandelsonNo announcement has been delayed. I have not yet reached a final decision.
The press notice of 8 July made clear that the next steps in the process were public consultation on both the Commission's proposals and the remedies proposed by my predecessor. It also made clear that the alliance would need approval from the US competition authorities, and that there would need to be a new UK/US bilateral air services agreement before the alliance could come into effect.
I sought comments on the DGFT's interim advice to me, which was published on 6 August. The DGFT's advice stated that the Commission had not reached a firm view on the appropriate remedy in some areas, and that a number of important matters remained uncertain.
Meanwhile, progress has been slower than expected in the negotiations with the US towards a new air services agreement.
I have told BA, in reply to a letter dated 2 December which said that a final decision on the alliance should be deferred (at least until the position on open skies was clearer), that there were a number of issues on which more progress had to be made before I could reach a final decision.