The U.S. Department of Transportation today finalized its approval of transatlantic antirust immunity for six SkyTeam alliance carriers, including Delta and Northwest airlines, allowing them to coordinate transatlantic pricing, capacity and service.
The decision, which also affects Air France, KLM, Alitalia and CSA Czech Airlines, makes final DOT's
April 9 tentative antitrust immunity approval.
Air France, Delta, KLM and Northwest now have 18 months to establish a four-way joint venture that would supersede current separate ventures between Air France and Delta and between KLM and Northwest established a decade ago
(BTNonline, Oct. 22, 2007).
"In approving antitrust immunity, the Department concluded that the proposed alliance is in the public interest because it features a proposed new and highly integrated joint venture that will likely produce efficiencies and provide consumers with additional price and service options," DOT said in a statement.
The DOT's approval affects neither Delta and Northwest's plan to merge—the antitrust review for which will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice—nor the carriers' currently separate domestic operations.