Delta deepens alliance with China Eastern
Delta Air Lines will deepen its collaboration with China Eastern Airlines virtually to the point of essentially becoming ‘a single airline.’
"You’ll be able to fly from any city that China Eastern serves in China to any city Delta serves in the US," Delta CEO Richard Anderson said.
"In essence we’ll run a single airline, even though there are two airlines involved."
The joint venture between the airlines will encompass code sharing, revenue management functions, flight scheduling, sales and marketing and loyalty memberships.
It comes after Delta agreed to invest $450 million for a 3% stake in China Eastern in July.
China is a crucial market for Delta and is projected to overtake the US as the world’s biggest market within 20 years.
Delta currently flies daily to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and has a hub in Tokyo, Japan.
"When you think about how big Asia is, more than one hub can certainly be supported commercially," Anderson said.
"Our real focus now for growth is Shanghai, because China has really surpassed Japan as the growth engine of Asia."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025