U.S. set to fight 3 airlines over marketing pact = = = = Tuesday January 21, 6:44 PM EST = (Recasts with government challenge, adds Northwest comments) By John Crawley WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Tuesday it wou= ld challenge plans by three big airlines to proceed with a marketing alli= ance in defiance of some conditions set by regulators to preserve competi= tion. Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWAC), Continental Airlines (CAL) and Delta Air= Lines Inc. (DAL) took an unusually combative stance earlier in rejecting= some of the Transportation Department's restrictions imposed on Friday i= n exchange for clearance of their codesharing partnership. The airlines challenged terms that could make them yield more airport gat= es to new entrants and low-cost competitors than the 13 they would be wil= ling to part with at four hub airports. = They also opposed a plan to permanently limit the number of codeshare fli= ghts, and objected to restrictions on marketing to corporations and trave= l agents. The carriers said they were prepared to fight the government in court if = necessary. The Transportation Departmentresponded that it was taking step= s toward preparing a complaint to present to an administrative law judge.= "The DOT intends aggressively to enforce its statutory authority to chall= enge the transaction and require such conditions as it deems necessary to= preserve competition," it said in a statement. Northwest Airlines President Doug Steenland said in a conference call wit= h reporters that the government was "looking to regulate airline behavior= above and beyond" what the law would require. Steenland said there was no timeframe for the alliance, saying only that = the carriers were planning to move forward. CODESHARING LIMITS Codesharing allows airlines to sell seats on each others' flights. Many other codesharing deals have promoted the extension of route network= s as a consumer benefit that will draw in new travelers. But the governme= nt has said that in this case, plans to aggressively market to frequent f= liers and corporate customers pose more of a risk to fair competition. Ex= tending routes is not a major component of this agreement. Delta, Continental and Northwest called the restrictions, which were unpr= ecedented in scope for a domestic alliance, unnecessary and unfair but re= luctantly agreed to many of them. They also agreed to Justice Department restrictions to not codeshare on c= ertain routes, which has been a more common approach by the government to= address the competition concerns of codesharing deals. But the airlines were highly critical of the Transportation Department co= nditions that could take away further airport gates, put permanent caps o= n the number of codeshare flights and limit marketing to corporations and= travel agents. "Some of DOT's conditions are unacceptable and we will not agree to them,= " they said in a joint statement. "These proposed conditions would undermine the value of the marketing agr= eement to consumers, and, therefore, to the participating airlines," the = carriers said. The carriers proposed a series of counter measures that mitigate their co= ncerns, but include language that is less restrictive than that proposed = by the government. "We offered what we thought were conditions that satisfied their concerns= ," Steenland said. He added the carriers were willing to discuss the situation with transpor= tation officials but noted that broad negotiations appeared out of the qu= estion. (Additional reporting Meredith Grossman Dubner in Chicago, John.Crawley@r= euters.com, Reuters Messaging: meredith.dubner.reuters.com@reuters.net; 3= 12 408 8787)) = =A92002 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS