the European Commission Friday confirmed it has sent antitrust charges to British Airways PLC (BAY.LN), the American Airlines unit of AMR Corp. (AMR) and Spain's Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA (IBLA.MC) over their Oneworld transatlantic alliance.

The commission is concerned the companies' aim to enhance cooperation on passenger air transport services on transatlantic routes may constitute a cartel.

The airlines want to jointly manage schedules, capacity and pricing, as well as share revenues on routes between North America and Europe.

The commission already has active investigations into similar proposed cooperation deals between four Star Alliance members, Lufthansa (LHA.XE), Continental (CAL), United and Air Canada (AC.A.T), and Skyteam members Air France KLM (AF.FR) and Delta/Northwest (DAL).

-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; +3227411483; peppi.kiviniemi@dowjones.com