31.   The alliance would be the biggest in a series of linkups between U.S. and European carriers that require antitrust immunity from the U.S. Transportation Department.

32.   The British government has maintained consistently that it will not ink an open skies agreement with the U.S. until the alliance has been received U.S. antitrust immunity.

33.   The deeper alliance permitted through antitrust immunity could lead to something resembling a single carrier, at least in the eyes of passengers.

34.   The new treaty is a prerequisite for U.S. consideration of a request that antitrust immunity be granted to the American-BA alliance.

35.   The only carriers that have yet won antitrust immunity, which allows airlines to coordinate on pricing, have been KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines.

36.   The proposal still requires approval from the U.K., the EU and antitrust immunity from the U.S. government.

37.   The Swiss national carrier said the U.S. Department of Transportation has tentatively granted the four airlines antitrust immunity.

38.   The treaties have come in exchange for giving U.S. carriers antitrust immunity to coordinate transatlantic operations with European carriers.

39.   The two carriers have been granted antitrust immunity to combine their operations across the Atlantic.

40.   The U.S. has insisted that it will not grant antitrust immunity to the combination absent an open skies agreement.