Tag Archives for joint venture.
The Department of Transportation ordered Delta and Aeromexico to dismantle their partnership—ending one of the most powerful cross-border alliances in aviation. But behind Delta’s new courtroom fight to save it is at best a calculated move to delay the inevitable and rewrite the rules that once let it collude legally with the foreign carrier.
U.S. and foreign airlines are granted anti-trust immunity all the time to collude on schedules and pricing, jointly deciding who will fly where and how much they’ll charge. The power the Department of Transportation has to allow this comes from an unusual, historical place, and its use has exploded in recent years.
American Airlines has joint ventures with several airlines, including British Airways, Qantas, and Japan Airlines. In theory these are “metal neutral” – it isn’t supposed to matter to the airlines which one flies a given route. They split the money.
So how do they decide who flies? In a recent employee meeting, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, American’s Vice President for Network and Schedule Planning Brian Znotins explained how they coordinate schedules with their joint venture partners, including who flies where and when.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
