"Swiss" selects American as partner, eyes Oneworld ZURICH, March 26 (Reuters) - The new ``Swiss'' airline, replacing failed Swissair as flag carrier from March 31, said on Tuesday it had selected American Airlines (NYSE:AMR - news) as its transatlantic partner and wanted to join Oneworld. ``We will be working very closely with American. American Airlines is going to be our transatlantic partner and we are aiming for a Oneworld full membership in this coming year,'' Chief Executive Andre Dose told Cable News Network television, ahead of a news conference in Zurich. Oneworld is an alliance lead by American and British Airways Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BAY.L). Swiss, being built out of former regional carrier Crossair , was widely expected to team up with American -- a former Swissair ally -- and wanting to join Oneworld but industry sources said there were a number of regulatory obstacles to full Oneworld membership. BA and Swiss would dominate the routes between Britain and Switzerland and some rivals, such as EasyJet, have already indicated they would demand the European Commission to force BA and Swiss to surrender landing slots on Heathrow airport if Swiss became a Oneworld member. Swiss had also been talking with the SkyTeam alliance of Air France and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL - news) and the Star Alliance of Lufthansa (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: LHAG.F) and UAL Corp's (NYSE:UAL - news) United Airlines. -- David Mueller / SAN kawika42@mac.com http://www.quanterium.com