In Paris last week, the idea of an "Air Union" of four of Western Europe's biggest airlines was finally cleared for takeoff. At the urging of West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, a reluctant Charles de Gaulle gave Air France the green light to begin negotiating final terms with its proposed partners: Germany's Lufthansa, Belgium's Sabena and Italy's Alitalia. When Air Union at last comes into existence, it will boast more aircraft (322) than Pan Am (123) and TWA (160) combined and will fly an estimated 350,000 route miles, v. 93,000 for the two U.S. overseas giants.
Though Air Union will...
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