British Airways shares climbed 5.1p to 200.6p as investors cheered news that the carrier has been granted preliminary approval from the US authorities to press ahead with a transatlantic joint venture with American Airlines.
Under the deal, BA and AA will only have to divest four take-off and landing slot pairs at Heathrow, far fewer than had been expected.
But the green light infuriated rival Virgin Atlantic because BA won’t even have to give up its ownership of the slots and is able to lease them to competitors for a minimum of ten years.
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Virgin said it would continue to oppose the deal because it would harm competition and raise fares for passengers.
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