In a press release, Delta Air Lines, its joint venture partner Air France and KLM announced that they are introducing joint sales contracts
for trade and corporate partners across Europe effective this month.
These contracts will ensure commercial efficiency across the region
between the three airlines and corporate clients, and are a key
milestone in the progress of the joint venture agreement, which sees
Air France and Delta share costs and revenues across the transatlantic.
"The contract provides a single point of contact, ensuring efficient and
consistent contract maintenance and handling for all parties,"
Frank Jahangir, vice president sales EMEA for Delta Air Lines, said. "Currently
our three carriers operate 710 weekly frequencies on the transatlantic,
all of which will be included in this single agreement. All carriers
will assist the main point of contact, ensuring that our trade partners
are provided with specialist expertise and in-depth knowledge of the
competitive landscape within all major traffic areas.”
Over the past years, Air France and Delta Air Lines have established a
strong alliance relationship. Air France and KLM merged in 2004; KLM
and Northwest Airlines established a transatlantic joint venture in
1998; Air France and Delta Air Lines established a transatlantic joint
venture in April 2008 and Delta merged with Northwest Airlines in
November 2008, under the single name of Delta.
“We envisage to soon integrate the transatlantic
operations into a three-party joint venture,"
Jahangir continued. "A key step along this path
was made in 2008 with the decision of the U.S. Department of
Transportation to grant Air France, Delta and KLM antitrust
immunity on transatlantic routes. With the award of antitrust immunity,
we are now able to offer a number of efficiencies, with the single
contract being an example of this, to our trade and commercial partners
across Europe.”