Air France and Delta Air Lines yesterday (October 17) signed a historic agreement which effectively merges their transatlantic operations
As part of the joint venture, Air France will lease three of its slots at London Heathrow Airport to its SkyTeam partner.
This will enable the US carrier to start routes from Heathrow to New York-JFK and its hub at Atlanta.
AF is making these slots available by cutting its Heathrow Paris-CDG service from 12 to eight or perhaps seven a day.
The airline said this decision was made because of the success of the London-Paris high speed train service by Eurostar.
The basis of the joint venture, which comes into force next April, is that AF and Delta will share revenues and costs on their transatlantic routes.
Jean-Cyril Spinetta, president and ceo of AF KLM, described the deal, signed yesterday at his airline's Paris headquarters,as a “turning point in our partnership with Delta.”
The first phase of the deal, from 2008 to 2010, will cover all non-stop AF flights from CDG, Paris-Orly and Lyon and all Delta's services from Atlanta, JFK, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City.
This will amount to 19 flights daily and, by 2010, a 45% increase in seats to 4,500 a day.
The two carriers said the combined revenue for this stage will be $1.5bn a year.
Under the second phase, from 2010 to 2016, the joint venture will cover all transatlantic flights between Europe and the
Mediterranean area and North America, including Canada and Mexico.
The combined revenue will rise to $8bn a year.
Delta's new slots at Heathrow will enable it to operate a twice daily service to JFK and a daily service to Atlanta.
AF will also start a new daily service from Heathrow to Los Angeles. All these new services will begin next year.
Mr Spinetta said the Open Skies agreement between the EU and the US which is due to come into force next March, had "opened up new perspectives which we are seizing."
Richard Anderson, ceo of Delta, said the new deal was a win for Delta, Air France and their customers.
He added: "Together we will be able to offer passengers more flight options and frequencies, better schedules, new opportunities to earn more miles to take advantage of an enlarged network with seamless booking."
Both airlines said that if the US Department of Transportation approved the application from SkyTeam members for anti-trust immunity next summer as expected, talks will begin between AF, KLM Delta and Northwest Airlines over extending the current joint venture.
The aim would be for all four airlines to "ultimately integrate their transatlantic operations."
* At the press conference, Mr Spinetta said he expected to begin "discussions" with Alitalia "in the coming weeks." He told questioners to wait and see if AF would make any approach for the Spanish carrier Iberia.