BA, American, Iberia offer EU antitrust concessions

But rival Virgin Atlantic said the proposals were "woefully inadequate" and would lead to higher prices for consumers.

The European Commission on Wednesday gave interested parties a month to comment on the concessions.

The three carriers, members of the Oneworld alliance, want to deepen the pact to take advantage of the U.S./EU "Open Skies" agreement, which liberalises trans-Atlantic aviation.

"If the market test confirms that the proposed commitments remedy the competition concerns, the Commission may adopt a decision ... making the commitments legally binding on the parties," the European Union competition watchdog said.

Such a decision would mean the Commission dropping its investigation and no fines levied on the companies.

Alliances are seen as a lucrative alternative to mergers and large-scale investments.

The Commission said in a statement that the airlines had offered to give up some landing and take-off slots for routes from London to Dallas, Boston, Miami, Chicago and New York and from Madrid to Miami.

The carriers also proposed to allow access to their frequent flyer programmes on the routes and submit data on their cooperation.

"I continue to question why the Commission is even considering these proposals to try and put right the consumer harm of this monster monopoly when it does not seem to have any evidence of concrete consumer benefits," Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement.