The European Commission said Monday it had written to the SkyTeam airline alliance expressing concerns about its impact on competition on certain routes.
The members have 12 weeks to reply to the EU regulators' "statement of objections."
The commission stressed it had no objection in principle to the alliance which includes Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, CSA, Delta Airlines, Aeromexico, Korean Airlines and Northwest.
"By enlarge the cooperation resulting from the SkyTeam alliance has the potential to generate economic benefits," the EU's executive branch said in a statement.
However, it said their were certain routes on which the member airlines previous competed where the alliance may have a "negative impact."
The EU did not specify which routes were problematic, but said they include routes within Europe and flights from Europe to other nations, including the United States.
SkyTeam described the document as a "normal step" in an antitrust investigation, adding that SkyTeam member airlines "will examine it carefully."
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