Virgin, Delta, Air France-KLM joint venture gets US approval
The mega joint venture of Air France- KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines has received official antitrust immunity in the US.
The US Department of Transportation has given the green light for the extended JV, which replaces two separate agreements between Delta and Air France-KLM and Delta and Virgin Atlantic.
With immunity the carriers can coordinate their pricing, scheduling and share revenue on flights operated on US-Europe routes.
The US DOT had already adopted safeguards to ‘protect competition, promote public benefits such as additional flights, and increased seat availability’.
"This is the final regulatory step for the airlines to begin to work together to offer customers the best streamlined travel experience across the Atlantic," Delta said.
JetBlue, which is planning to start its own transatlantic services, argued that the multi-carrier tie-up didn’t show enough customer benefits to merit antitrust immunity.
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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.
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