The European Commission has given its approval to plans by the SAir group and the French holding company, Marine Wendel, to merge their French airline interests.

Under the deal, the French airline AOM is to buy Participations Aeronautiques, the parent company of Air Liberté.

AOM is jointly controlled by SAir, the parent of Swissair, and Marine Wendel, which also owns Participations Aeronautiques.

The Commission said the only change caused by the transaction would be that SAir would now assume joint control of Participations Aeronautiques.

It said the deal would not affect any markets in the air transport sector since there were no significant overlaps between scheduled or charter flight routes.

The Commission's decision paves the way for the SAir group to merge Air Liberté with AOM and Air Littoral, which it already controls. If the deal goes through, the new company will be second only to Air France.

The merger is expected to take place in October.

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