DOT Gives Green Light to New Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM Joint Venture

The U.S. Department of Transportation gave final approval to a new joint venture between Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic Airways late Friday.

The move grants global antitrust immunity between Delta Air Lines, Société Air France, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, and Virgin Atlantic Airways and replaces two separate transatlantic joint venture agreements Delta is in: one with Virgin Atlantic and the other with Air France and KLM.

The agency said that the final order as issued formalizes its decision published in August in which emphasized that the new joint venture application was the replacement of two separate, and approved, alliance agreements with a single, integrated agreement.

Delta in a statement said that the expanded joint venture will launch “in the near future.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)