News
Approval by June for Korean Air-Delta joint venture
January 19th 2018
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation (MLIT) is expected to approve the trans-Pacific joint venture between the country’s largest carrier, Korean Air, and Delta Air Lines in the first half of this year, Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, told media in a recent earnings call. Read More »
Korean Air and Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, announced their trans-Pacific joint venture last June, in a catch up with United Airlines and All Nippon Airways (ANA), as well as American Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL). The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) approved the U.S. and Korean carrier tie-up in November.
Following DoT approval, South Korea’s MLIT said it would approve the joint venture, but said it may be processed slowly because it was the first time a South Korean airline had agreed to a JV with a foreign partner.
As part of their deal, both airlines said they would work toward better schedule and frequent flyer benefit integration on their combined 370-destination network in Asia and the Americas, as well as adding trans-Pacific cost and revenue sharing to the basket.
Separately, American and Qantas Airways are reapplying for approval of their trans-Pacific joint venture (JV). “The QF/AA JV is definitely still on the cards. We said previously we needed to do a better job of explaining the consumer benefits to the DoT and we are in the process of doing that through a fresh application,” a Qantas spokesman told Orient Aviation recently.
