Air France, Delta Air Lines Sign Transatlantic Joint Venture Agreement

Air France and Delta Air Lines signed a joint venture agreement to share revenues and costs on their trans-Atlantic routes. The deal will encompass combined revenues of approximately $1.5 billion annually during the first phase of the operation and more than $8 billion annually for the second phase.

Ultimately, the joint venture is expected to increase revenues, competition and customer travel choices on key routes across the Atlantic.

The first phase will begin April 2008 and will include all nonstop flights operated by Air France and Delta between Air France’s Paris-CDG, Orly and Lyon hubs, and Delta’s Atlanta, New York (JFK) Cincinnati and Salt Lake City hubs.

It will also include flights operated by both carriers between London-Heathrow and the U.S. A combined 19 daily flights and more than 4,500 seats per day –a 45 percent increase- are expected to be part of the first phase of implementation.

By 2010, the agreement will be extended to all transatlantic flights operated by Air France and Delta between Europe and the Mediterranean on one side and North America on the other side, as well as all flights between Los Angeles and Tahiti.

The joint venture has an initial term through March 31, 2016 and will renew for subsequent periods of three years with effect from this date.