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Heathrow shakeup near?
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June 4, 1997: 9:28 a.m. ET
General Accounting Office may ask airlines to give up Heathrow slots
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Robert Crandall, chairman of American Airlines parent AMR Corp., said landing slots should be opened up to make London's Heathrow Airport more competitive. He just doesn't think his airline should have to part with many.
The General Accounting Office will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday. It will ask that American Airlines and British Airways give up 23 daily round trip flights to Heathrow, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The two airlines have received criticism about their planned alliance over concerns it will cement their stronghold on flights between the United States and Britain.
Currently, 38 of the 55 daily round trips between those two countries are made by American Airlines and British Airways.
Because of an agreement between the United States and Britain, American Airlines and United Airlines are the only U.S. carriers that are allowed to fly into Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports and also one of the most coveted by airlines.
AMR's Crandall, appearing on CNNfn's "Before Hours," said there are plenty of slots that could be opened up by other air alliances without taking away from his own.
"Each of those other alliances have partner airlines that have lots of slots at Heathrow who use them for things other than flying to the United States," he said.
"The alliances that want to compete at Heathrow have lots of opportunities to do so," he noted.
Crandall did hold open the possibility that the two airlines would sell slots, opening up as many as 13 slots. He added that he hoped he would not be required to do so but said Amercian would comply if that were the case.
Crandall did, however, think that opening up 23 landing slots would level the playing field at Heathrow.
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