=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2008/05/16/BU4510N7FS= .DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, May 16, 2008 (SF Chronicle) Rivals demand Virgin America release data John Hughes, Bloomberg News Virgin America Inc., the startup airline based in Burlingame partly owned by billionaire Richard Branson, should be forced to disclose operating data, six competitors have told federal regulators. The U.S. Transportation Department collects data monthly on traffic and finances and shares it with the public. Virgin America asked March 14 to keep its data private until its sales exceed $1 billion a year so rivals couldn't thwart its growth. Under department procedures, the information automatically is kept priva= te until a decision is made and appeals exhausted. Virgin America lost $34.8 million in its first quarter in business, according to reports disclosed in December, before the carrier requested confidentiality. "It is fundamentally unfair," American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines said in a letter to the department released Wednesday. "Our competitors see our data while we cannot view the same information." The letter also asks the department to immediately decide similar privacy requests by Republic Airways Holdings Inc.'s Republic and Shuttle America units. The airlines' response was expected, and disclosing the data would give them an unfair advantage, said Virgin America spokeswoman Abby Lunardini. Dave Smallen, a spokesman for the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, declined to comment about the carriers' letter. The department expects to have all three privacy requests resolved by the end of June, he said. The department rejected a second appeal Dec. 6 by ExpressJet Holdings In= c. to keep its data private and began making the information public again four days later. ExpressJet had been seeking the confidentiality since April 2007. The six carriers cited the ExpressJet decision as a reason for the department to immediately decide the pending cases. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".