Memo: Antitrust: Commission confirms unannounced inspections in TAP-Brussels Airlines cooperation investigation

The European Commission can confirm that on 13 December 2011 Commission officials undertook unannounced inspections at the premises of Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal in Belgium and Portugal.

Earlier this year the Commission started proceedings into the possible effects for consumers of the code-sharing agreements between the two airlines. The Commission has concerns that the agreements may go further than the sale of seats on routes where the two companies are expected to compete, itself already a departure from the more common form of code-sharing in the industry whereby an airline sells seats on a partner's flights on routes it does not operate itself. The Commission fears TAP and Brussels Airlines may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Articles 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).