Five killed in skydiving plane crash
     GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. - March 21, 1998 9:54 p.m. EST -- Five people
 were killed Saturday when a plane carrying members of a skydiving
 club crashed near a suburban Kansas City airport.
     The Cessna 206 crashed short of the East Kansas City Airport,
 the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane reported electrical
 problems after taking off from the airport in Independence.
     Witnesses said they saw smoke coming from the plane as it clip-
 ped trees and went down in Grain Valley, about 20 miles east of
 Kansas City along Interstate 70.
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    U.S. Senate panel questions British Airways-American alliance
       Committee worries that alliance would stifle competition
     WASHINGTON - March 20, 1998 4:01 p.m. EDT - Yet to make a final
 decision, federal antitrust officials nonetheless are indicating
 that the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Air-
 lines will not win approval without changes.
     Joel Klein, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division,
 told senators at a hearing Thursday that the proposed alliance could
 endanger competition on lucrative U.S.-British routes.
     Several other speakers, including Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin,
 used the hearing on competition in the airline industry to complain
 about sky-high domestic fares on routes served by only one airline.
     The proposed British Airways-American alliance would give the
 airlines total dominance over some British gateways, including Bos-
 ton, and control over 65 percent of daily round-trip flights between
 the United States and London's Heathrow Airport -- a popular choice
 with business customers.
     In response to a question from Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New
 Jersey, who opposes the alliance, Klein said: "I don't think there's
 a question in anybody's mind that this deal won't go through simply
 as is."
     In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcom-
 mittee, Klein laid out the Justice Department view.
     "You can be sure that, unless we conclude that effective condi-
 tions can be imposed to (encourage) competitive airline service
 between the United States and the United Kingdom, we will urge ...
 (the Transportation Department) to disapprove the alliance," he
 wrote.
                 Virgin's Branson opposes alliance
     The hearing brought together leaders of seven of the world's
 major airlines, including Robert Ayling, chairman of British Air-
 ways, and American Airlines Chairman Robert Crandall.
     In the hearing room, Crandall was seated next to Richard Bran-
 son, flamboyant billionaire chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways.
 Strongly opposing the alliance, Branson has called it "the merger
 from hell."
     Crandall defended it, saying American had opposed such alli-
 ances but entered into one once they were approved by the govern-
 ment. He said other alliances recently approved by the Justice and
 Transportation department had crushed American on other routes.
     "It seems to me it is time for governments on both sides of the
 Atlantic to be more consistent," he said.
     Speaking with reporters before he and the other executives tes-
 tified, Branson said he hopes Congress also will eliminate a law
 prohibiting non-U.S. ownership of U.S. airlines. He urged European
 officials to drop a similar provision on their side of the Atlantic.
     Branson said that if the prohibition were dropped, he immediate-
 ly would begin a low-cost U.S. carrier similar to Virgin Express,
 which serves markets in Europe.
     "Airfares in America have gone up and up and up, to the extent
 that they're now more expensive to go from Washington to New York
 than it is from New York to London," Branson said.
     While Kohl did not name names, he complained about fares on
 Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines.
     The airline, which is the sole provider of service between Mil-
 waukee and Minneapolis, charges $628 for a one-day advance purchase
 on the 295-mile (475-kilometer) route, according to a chart the sen-
 ator posted in the hearing room. On the 1,728-mile (2,782-km) route
 from Milwaukee to Los Angeles, where Northwest faces competition,
 the airline charges $345 for the same ticket.
     "Obviously, it shouldn't cost more to fly a shorter distance,"
 Kohl said.
     Also appearing before the committee were the chairmen of U.S.
 Airways, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines.
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