American Airlines, British Air and Spain's Iberia have signed a joint business agreement on flights between North America and Europe, American Airlines announced Thursday.

American (NYSE: AMR) added that the three airlines plan to file for global antitrust immunity from U.S. officials and will also apply from the same in Europe.

Under the deal announced Thursday, the three airlines will cooperate commercially on flights between the United States zone (encompassing Canada and Mexico) and the European Union (including Switzerland and Norway), while continuing to operate as separate, legal companies.

Analyst: 'an absolute, positive, must deal'

Stock Analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Thursday rival competitors may argue that the deal will reduce competition internationally, but in Bauer's interpretation the agreement is "an absolute, positive, must deal," due to the changing nature of flight and air travel.

"The reality is, we're becoming a global travel marketplace, not just a national one, one that will eventually be accessible to everyone, and in this decade the key players will compete on transcontinental and global routes," Bauer said. "That means the carriers need global scale and the American-British Air-Iberia deal accomplishes that. It is an absolute, positive, must deal." (Bauer added that he does not have a rating on nor own shares in any airline. However, Bauer does have frequent flier miles/points in American Airlines.)

Shares of American Airlines' parent AMR Corp. rose 20 cents to $11.06, while British Airways fell 2 pence to 254.25 pence, and Iberia fell 2 euro cents to 2.02 euros in mid-day Thursday trading.

Bauer said two factors are driving changes in commercial aviation: the "open skies" agreement between the U.S. and E.U., which opened routes to competition in March 2008, and airplane technology advances that are lowering the cost of flight per seat mile, once fuel costs are held constant. "We are in a high-energy cost period, but once that cycle calms down, technology and competition will make global fights more-accessible to the typical citizen, fares will drop, which means airlines must reduce costs. Globally-oriented joint venture deals will help lower airline costs. It's part of that cost-reduction solution," Bauer said.

Airline Sector Analysis: As analyst Bauer noted, the AMR deal is no 'urge to merge' but a market-driven operational requirement. In the new era of flight, the competitor is not the rival domestic airline with a hub in Atlanta, Georgia, but a carrier in Europe or Asia with trans-continental reach and global aspirations. Hence, U.S. and E.U. regulators should approve the deal, post-haste.