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The head of United Airlines praised efforts by British Airways PLC and American Airlines to secure anti-trust immunity for their alliance as he outlined plans to expand the scope of the U.S. carrier's own industry grouping.

Glenn Tilton, chairman and chief executive of United parent UAL Corp. (UAUA), said he remained "neutral" on the application by BA, American and three other members of their Oneworld alliance to secure immunity and deepen cooperation.

United and other members of its Star Alliance grouping already have extensive immunity to coordinate schedules, pricing and marketing, and calls from BA and American for a level playing field have been a key part of their application to regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

"I think they have made their argument well," Tilton told Dow Jones Newswires of the efforts by Oneworld carriers to secure parity with Star and members of SkyTeam, the third global alliance group, which also has immunity.

BA and American, a unit of AMR Corp. (AMR), are expected to have to wait until after an Oct. 31 deadline set by U.S. Department of Transportation officials to hear if their application has been successful. People close to the situation said Oneworld's application is being delayed by efforts by DOT to accommodate concerns expressed by the Department of Justice about airline competition policy.

While Tilton has been a staunch advocate of industry liberalization, he and other executives in Star had been vocal opponents of two previous attempts by Oneworld to secure immunity.

Members of Star and SkyTeam have made almost no comment on the latest bid by Oneworld, in part because of more intense scrutiny by European regulators of existing and proposed alliances on competition grounds.

Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chief executive of Star member Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said Tuesday that he was "not afraid of the tests" being applied by regulators. "At the end of the day logic will prevail," he said at an event held at Newark Liberty International Airport near New York to mark the entry of Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) into Star.

Larry Kellner, Continental's chairman and chief executive, said the airline hoped to extend anti-trust immunity on routes to the Pacific for the first time if the U.S. and Japan can agree liberalized open-skies air services treaty. Kellner, who steps down at the end of the year, told Dow Jones Newswires that he envisaged a deeper transpacific pact involving United and All Nippon Airways Inc., another member of Star.

Continental's move from SkyTeam - the first defection within the three alliances - takes Star's membership to 25 carriers, and it could expand further with efforts to bolster its presence in Latin America.

Marcelo Varella, director of alliances at Brazil's Tam Airlines, said he envisaged that it could be joined in Star at a future time by Panama's Copa Airlines - a former SkyTeam member, as well as merger partners Grupo Taca and Avianca.

However, Star members do see limits to the alliance's ability expand in some regions. Hussein Massoud, chairman and chief executive of Egyptair, said there was no room for a third Middle East carrier to join his company and Turkish Airlines in Star. Fast-growing Middle East carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are not members of any global alliance.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires, 312 731 6910; doug.cameron@dowjones.com