Air France KLM, Delta to launch joint venture

The Air France-KLM group will today (May 20th) sign a joint venture agreement with Delta Airlines.

Under the new deal, the airlines will operate approximately 25 per cent of total transatlantic traffic, which they claim will enable them to compete with other alliances in this market.

Routes will be jointly operated by the carriers and all revenues and costs will be shared.

Passengers will benefit from access to more than 200 transatlantic flights and approximately 50,000 seats on a daily basis.

The geographic scope of the joint venture will cover flights between North America and Europe as well as services linking Amsterdam to India.

Air France-KLM and Delta are able to begin their partnership as a result of the recent liberalisation of air services between the European Union and the US.

British Airways is currently awaiting approval on its plans to create a transatlantic joint venture with American Airlines and Iberia, a proposal that has received criticism from Virgin Atlantic.

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