Branson turns up heat in battle against BA deal

British Airways was accused of playing dirty tricks on the competition authorities after Virgin Atlantic said the UK flag carrier and its alliance partner American Airlines (AA) are seeking to hide the extent of their market dominance.

Virgin's founder and chairman Sir Richard Branson today turned up the volume in his campaign to prevent BA and AA's deal to work closely together and sell tickets to each other's customers.

"BA and AA are planning to create a monster monopoly on the transatlantic and here they are distorting the picture of just what a monster this will be," said Branson.

At issue is the filings BA and AA have made on their proposed alliance to Washington competition authorities in which they say they control 43% of the traffic between Heathrow and the US.

Virgin says that figure is more likely 62% because BA and AA's filings ignore millions of connecting passengers from other airlines.