Annual Report 2002—2003 - Air Transport Users Council

and operation.We expressed concern, however, that the consultation paper only called for thespecialist unit merely to provide advice to industry, to consumer groups and to otherinterested parties as opposed to promulgating or publishing advice itself. Weacknowledged the resource implications of requiring the unit itself to promulgateinformation, and indeed that the AUC had a role to play in this area. But our concernwas that the responsibilities of the new unit should not be so precisely defined as topreclude any role at all in promoting aviation health advice directly to passengers.House Of Lords Inquiry into the Accountability Of RegulatorsThis House of Lords Inquiry included questions about the relationship betweenregulators and their associated consumer councils. We made a largely factualsubmission, concentrating on the relationship between the CAA and the AUC.However, we took the opportunity to draw attention to the fact that the CAA was underno statutory obligation to support the AUC and to state that we would prefer that it was.BMI British Midland/United Airlines Alliance Expansion AgreementIn last year's report, we referred to an application from the UK's BMI British Midlandand the US' United Airlines to the OFT for clearance to expand their existing allianceagreement. We had said in our submission to the OFT that the airlines' proposalsappeared to us to be a matter of the two airlines bringing together their networks in acomplementary way to the potential benefit of consumers. Principally, we thought thisalliance would provide stronger competition at Heathrow to British Airways and itspartner airlines. At the time of writing of last year's report, the OFT had not reached itsverdict on the airlines' application.In August 2002, the OFT published, and invited comments on, its provisional findingthat the BMI/United application could provide benefits to consumers that wouldoutweigh possible anti-competitive effects, and that the two airlines should therefore bepermitted to proceed with their proposals. We made a brief further submissionendorsing the OFT's preliminary findings.The OFT subsequently announced its approval for the alliance expansion which, in anyevent, was always intended to come into force at such time as BMI achieved itslong-held aspiration to secure access to routes to the US out of Heathrow. At the timeof the application, it had appeared that BMI might be about to secure access toHeathrow (the AUC has consistently supported BMI's case for being granted thisaccess). In the event, however, the UK and US Governments have not been able toagree on terms under which this could be achieved.EU-US Air ServicesWe have referred in previous Annual Reports to the European Commission's desire to17