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COMPETITION LAW
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venture enables the passengers, who regularly travel from Italy to North
America or over Italy from North America, to benefit from the advantages
provided by the joint venture. The Board is in the opinion that from this
point of view, the actual content of the joint venture is not altered by the
inclusion of AZ.
Furthermore, pursuant to Art.16 of the Partnership Agreement, it is
envisaged that AFKL and AZ shall enter into an agreement providing
for the mutual cooperation for the cargo operations. According to the
Cargo Agreement, AFKL shall be responsible from the marketing, sales
and pricing of the cargo capacity in the AZ passenger aircrafts where
the services are provided by AZ and which flies in the international
and intercontinental routes. Turkey shall be among the countries where
AFKL shall be the commercial representative of AZ, since AZ passenger
aircrafts provide service in Turkey.
Relevant Market
The Board defined the relevant product markets as “
the market for
transportation of passengers by scheduled flights
” and “the market for
air-cargo transportation”.
The relevant geographic market for the transportation of passengers by
scheduled flights market is defined as “Istanbul-Amsterdam”, “Istanbul-
Paris”, “Istanbul-Roma”, “Istanbul-Miami”, “Istanbul-Atlanta”, “Istanbul-
NewYork”, “Turkey-South America”, “Turkey-Africa” and “Turkey-Asia”
routes and for air-cargo transportation market it is defined as “Turkey-
North America” route.
Evaluation of the Individual Exemption
Pursuant toArt.4of theActNo: 4054 (“CompetitionAct”) “
Agreements
… between undertakings, … which have as their object or effect or likely
effect the prevention, distortion or restriction of competition directly or
indirectly in a particular market for goods or services are illegal and
prohibited
.” The Board determined that AFKL–Delta and AZ, who are
undertakings in terms of the application of the Competition Act, are rival
competitors in the herein determined relevant markets for the transportation
of passengers by scheduled flights and air cargo transportation.