British Airways chief encourages cross-border airline mergers

British Airways chief encourages cross-border airline mergers    Lord Colin Marshall, chairman of British Airways, said U.S. air transportation policy that restricts foreign airline competition on domestic routes is outdated and must change so that consolidation can take place more easily in an industry bloated with too much capacity, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
   The United States and the European Union are scheduled to begin the first in a series of what are expected to be difficult negotiations on ways to eliminate market controls on airlines so they can operate across borders much like other industries do today. U.S. law prohibits foreign airlines from owning more than 25 percent of voting stock in an airline and from operating between U.S. cities.
   Marshall said the European Union is practicing free market principles much more than the United States, which seems more interested in propping up ailing airlines.
   He was in Denver to promote the airlines new bed-like, business class seats.