Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991 TAG: 9103160240
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
And USAir Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines, once thought to have been shut out of the latest realignment in valuable trans-Atlantic travel, appear to be leading contenders to scarf up the scraps.
The Transportation Department has tentatively approved deals in which American will get Trans World Airlines' routes into London from New York, Los Angeles and Boston. But the department said it intends to open up the London routes from Philadelphia and Baltimore to whoever can fill them best, while telling TWA to keep flying to London out of its St. Louis hub.
TWA warned the decision could scuttle the deal with American. An American spokesman said Friday the three London routes might not be worth the entire $445 million that American had agreed to pay for all six.
"That will have to be an issue that we'll have to address," Tim Smith said. He was unable to put a price on the three routes, although they are definitely the most lucrative parts of the package. The government said they make up 82 percent of the London traffic from all six cities.
A TWA spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call Friday.
The prospect that Philadelphia and Baltimore could come up for grabs immediately caught the attention of others in the industry.
"We're going to go after them very aggressively in both cases," USAir spokesman David Shipley said Friday. "We have large hubs in both Baltimore and Philadelphia."
USAir had asked the Transportation Department to carve those two cities out of the American deal. The department mentioned USAir's stance in its tentative approval issued late Thursday.
Delta also was eyeing the Baltimore route, but only because it could possibly be moved to another city. Orlando, Fla., is a likely target, Delta spokesman Neil Monroe said.
Delta previously had expressed an interest in serving London out of Los Angeles or Boston, but those cities are not as attractive with the stiff new competition from American.
Moving the U.S. end of the route is possible under the air treaty agreement between the United States and Britain because the London end of the route is Gatwick Airport, not the more desirable Heathrow field.
The Philadelphia route cannot be changed because it flies to Heathrow, said Transportation Department spokesman Ed O'Hara. But if a carrier other than American or United were to get the route, it would probably have to fly into Gatwick, since the British will let only two U.S. carriers use Heathrow.
Neither Continental, Pan Am nor Northwest said they had plans to pursue the Baltimore and Philadelphia routes.
by CNB