Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal on code-sharing on Brussels-Lisbon route

The 27 October 2016, The European Commission informed Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal of its preliminary view that their codeshare cooperation on passenger services between Brussels and Lisbon restricted competition between the two airlines, in breach of EU antitrust rules.

The Statement of Objections sent by the Commission today concerns a codeshare agreement signed between Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal in 2009. The Commission's objections relate to the first three years of the agreement. Under this codeshare agreement, the two airlines granted each other the right to sell an unlimited number of seats of almost all categories (Business, Economy) on each other's flights on the Brussels-Lisbon route. Prior to the agreement, Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal had operated competing services on the route and were in fact the only two airlines flying this route.