A top American Airlines executive has said he expects lawmakers to ease the restrictions on foreign ownership of US carriers, as the pace of consolidation picks up in the global airline industry.
"The foreign ownership restrictions are likely to come down," Tom Horton, American's chief financial officer, told the Financial Times. "This industry is as global as any."
Efforts by American and its peers to forge closer ties to transatlantic allies mark the first step towards "a world when there will be a handful of global companies that can take customers and cargo anywhere they need to go", Mr Horton said.
US rules currently cap foreign voting investment in US carriers to 25 per cent.
American is seeking immunity from US antitrust rules to form a venture with British Airways and Spain's Iberia. Delta Air Lines, which recently merged with Northwest Airlines - making it, not American, the world's largest airline - already enjoys immunity though its partnership with Air France KLM.
Continental Airlines, another US rival, recently agreed to join an alliance anchored by United Airlines and Lufthansa.
American, which twice scuttled proposed ventures with BA when regulators made their approval contingent on the surrender of valuable take-off and landing slots at London Heathrow, expects to win immunity this time free of any such remedies, by mid-2009.
The ventures will help carriers share revenue and harmonise schedules, fares and passenger loyalty programmes.
While Mr Horton could not predict whether changes to foreign ownership rules, which would require federal action, may come during President-elect Barack Obama's administration, he said restricting the flow of capital into any industry was not sustainable.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa's chief executive, also called for the US ownership restrictions to be lifted this week.
"If we believe this is a global industry, why should we limit ourselves?" he told reporters in New York.
Lufthansa currently holds a 19 per cent stake in JetBlue, the New York-based US low-cost carrier.
However, legislators remain concerned that foreign ownership could threaten carriers' commitment to ferrying military personnel and supplies around the world in times of war.
Labour leaders have also argued that cross-border mergers could cost US pilots and other airline employees their jobs.
"I'm not going to let that occur on my watch," Jim Oberstar, a Minnesota congressman who chairs the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told the FT earlier this year. "Why should we let foreign airlines buy up extremely valuable US assets?"
Liberalising the cap has also topped the agenda in recent US and European Union "Open Skies" negotiations.
Gerard Arpey, American's chief executive, succeeded Quantas' Geoff Dixon as chairman of oneworld, one of three major airline alliances.
