Virgin Atlantic, one of the world's leading long-haul airlines, has asked the US Department of Transport to call for more documents from BA and American Airlines after it emerged that there were many highly relevant documents missing from their latest submission of evidence. Last December, the US Department of Transport asked BA and AA to give more evidence relating to their request for anti-trust immunity, which the two airlines finally submitted recently.

Paul Charles, Director of Communications at Virgin Atlantic, said:

"We are concerned about the many missing materials in BA and AA's recent filing. Their submission appears to omit scores of key documents, including email attachments and missing pages, that would appear to be highly relevant to this case and, at the very least, responsive to the Department of Transport's request for further evidence. Anti-trust immunity for BA and AA would give the carriers further dominance on routes to and from Heathrow, so the regulators need a complete set of documents in order to thoroughly review this anti-competitive application on behalf of consumers."

BA/AA would have a market share significantly over 60% on key routes such as Heathorw-JFK, Heathrow-Chicago, Heathrow-Boston and Heathrow-Miami.

For further information please contact the Virgin Atlantic Press Office on 01293 747373 or log onto www.virginatlantic.com