Virgin Atlantic and bmi, the British airlines, are seeking permission to form partnerships with American carriers on transatlantic flights as part of a strategy to take on British Airways.

Bmi, formerly British Midland, yesterday submitted an application to the US Department of Transport requesting permission to code-share with United Airlines.

Virgin already has a code-share arrangement with Continental and has applied to extend its partnership to another US city, Chicago, to which Virgin began flying in April.

The airlines are positioning themselves to take advantage of “open skies”, which will liberalise transatlantic travel from next March. The change in rules will allow any airline to operate from Heathrow, the main transatlantic hub, to the US.

Bmi is not allowed to fly this route at present but plans to launch a US service. It is seeking a code-share so it can put bmi passengers on to United flights leaving London for New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Ange-les and San Francisco.

This will allow the airline to use its existing Heathrow slots for US flights without buying numerous new aircraft. Bmi has plans to purchase four new jets to service the Heathrow-JFK route, but it is unlikely that they will be available before open skies begins in March.

Virgin is expanding its code-share with Continental because the deal will give it greater access to an American domestic network. Even after open skies, British airlines will not be allowed to operate within the US.

The agreement is also attractive for Continental as it will be able to put passengers on Virgin aircraft rather than launching a new route, which is expensive as Heathrow slots are rare.

BA, which has a code-share with American Airlines, wants to take advantage of open skies by moving more US-bound flights to Heathrow. The airline moves into Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 in March.

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