In the 80’s and 90’s Virgin Atlantic and British Airways locked horns in a demographic war. Virgin’s youthful ‘yuppie’ vibe Vs BA’s dependable reliable persona. As time went on they each segmented a market share and friction, whilst still apparent, wained from its original intensity. Now, 2 decades on, we the consumer, are on the verge of demographic warfare once again. Today BA announced intentions for a joint deal with American Airlines for transatlantic travel which could effectively monopolise the routes between them. They have filed for exemption from competitive legislation in both Europe and America citing: “It will improve customer choice by enabling the oneworld global alliance, of which American, BA and Iberia are key members, to compete more effectively around the world with other global alliances.”
Richard Branson recently argued quite the opposite stating: “What is before the regulators today is the future of a competitive international aviation industry. I firmly believe that allowing American and BA to proceed with their plans will irrevocably damage an industry that is already on its knees. “This alliance will mean less, not more competition. It will mean increased domination by BA
and its oneworld alliance partners
at Heathrow. An AA/BA alliance would be blatantly anti-consumer and anti-competitive. This will be doubly true when taken with the proposed Star Alliance immunity application for UK-US services.”
And so the battle commences, Virgin’s Richard Branson standing his ground and by proxy the ground of all transatlantic travellers around the world. If this alliance is allowed to form unchallenged, speculators will rightly question whether foul play is at work. And so they should!
Source: Abdelaziz (Aziz) Musa