Like a perennial flower, British Airways and American Airlines are making their annual appearance. The airlines are seeking approval from U.S. and European Commission antitrust regulators to cooperate more closely on transatlantic routes, as well as routes in the U.K. The proposed cooperation envisages profit sharing on nine transatlantic routes. Opposition immediately erupted from Virgin headquarters, where executives indicated they would lobby the European Union and the U.S. government to try and block the deal. Still with Virgin, the airline now operates a codeshare with Midwest Express from Milwaukee, WI to London. Passengers can earn either Midwest Express Frequent Flyer miles or Virgin flying club miles. And still with the codeshare theme – Continental and Air Europa have teamed up to provide codeshare service with reciprocal frequent flyer participation effective Nov. 1. OnePass members can earn miles on all Air Europa-operated flights between Madrid and Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. Air Europa Fidelitas members can earn miles on Continental-operated flights network wide … Alitalia is poised to join SkyTeam and in anticipation of this, Northwest and Alitalia will sever ties as of Oct. 28. Northwest indicated that steps would be taken to accommodate passengers with reservations on codeshare flights … Northwest Airlines and Transavia have begun codeshare service between North America and Southern Europe, perhaps a move to fill in the gaps following the severance of the Alitalia partnership. Destinations in Morocco, Italy and Portugal via Amsterdam/Schiphol will be available to WorldPerks members for redemption and mileage accrual … Lufthansa officials have made a clear indication that they wish to purchase a portion of Thai Airways. The Thai government is proposing to reduce the state’s stake in the airline from 93 percent to 70 percent through a public offering and the sale of 10 percent stake to a strategic partner. Thai officials described Lufthansa’s offer as “interesting.” … Following the collapse of the United takeover of US Airways, US Airways has point blank rejected two offers from Global Airlines Corp. The second offer was an 11 percent increase on Global’s initial bid. Meanwhile, Delta CEO Leo Mullin declared that consolidation in the U.S. airline sector was a dead issue in the near term. We have just one question, is that a hope or a fact?