U.S., EU clear Air France-KLM deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. antitrust authorities confirm that they have approved a bid by French carrier Air France to take over Dutch airline KLM.
Earlier Wednesday, Air France won conditional permission from the European Commission to buy KLM and create the world's biggest airlines group in terms of revenue.
"The European Commission has authorized the concentration between Air France and KLM after the companies successfully resolved concerns about reduced competition,'' the EU executive said in a statement.
The Commission said its biggest concerns in what it called the "first real merger in the European airline industry'' had been on routes between Paris and Amsterdam, and Europe and the United States.
The airlines agreed to give up 94 single take-off and landing slots -- 47 pairs -- per day.
"This will enable rival airlines to start a service where competition would have been eliminated or significantly reduced...,'' said the Commission, charged with protecting competition in the 15-member EU bloc.
It said that the slots that are being opened up will permit up to 31 new round-trip flights per day by competitors.
The Commission said it had concerns with routes originating in Amsterdam for Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna, or from those cities to Amsterdam.
It also had concerns on routes between Amsterdam and New York, Paris and Detroit, Amsterdam and Atlanta, Paris and Lagos and Amsterdam and Lagos.
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