
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994                   TAG: 9403180271
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

REGULATORS GIVE USAIR A BREAK

The Transportation Department gave financially troubled USAir a breather Thursday by extending approval for its cooperative agreement with British Airways.

The department approved continuing a program called code-sharing between the two airlines for one year. But it said it would not consider any additional programs between the two carriers.

When code-sharing was instituted a year ago, U.S. officials sought to tie continued approval to negotiation of a new nation-to-nation aviation agreement between the United States and Britain.

Those sometimes acrimonious talks have proved fruitless, and competing airlines called for revocation of current agreements, including an end to the USAir-BA deal.

Code-sharing allows each airline to book passengers on the other's flights, increasing access to British markets for USAir and to the United States for BA. It is the mechanism by which British Airways offers flights between Roanoke and London, though connections in Charlotte, N.C., and Baltimore.

by CNB