American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia have announced new routes as they launch their trans-Atlantic business on Wednesday.

The three airlines say that the tie-up will give customers more access to cheaper fares, bigger choice of flight times and easier connections.

Among the new routes are New York to Budapest, Hungary, Chicago to Helsinki, Finland, and London to San Diego.

The airlines have also placed codeshares on a significant number of additional routes, greatly increasing the number of destination choices available to customers.

The closer ties between the trio have worried rivals — Virgin Atlantic Airways, for example, is concerned about BA’s dominance at Heathrow Airport.