European airline venture takes off
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Doug Krizner: You’ll soon have a more choices when flying from the U.S. to Europe. Air France and Delta Air Lines have a joint venture for non-stop trans-Atlantic routes. Kyle James reports from Berlin.
Kyle James: This new joint venture allows Air France/KLM and Delta to share revenue and profits on their trans-Atlantic routes. It covers flights between several European and U.S. hubs. They’ll also expand their presence at London’s Heathrow Airport in the hopes of eating into some of British Airways’ lucrative business there.
Aviation analyst Nick van den Brul says KLM has had a joint venture with Northwest Airlines for years, so the players know exactly what they’re doing.
Nick van den Brul: It’s a very, very good deal. Because they know exactly how to operate it, they know it makes money, it’s an effective sharing of capacity and it allows them to build businesses more effectively by combining their passenger flows.
He says the deal should give passengers more options in terms of destinations and connections. It could also bring down ticket prices from Heathrow, especially for business passengers.
In Berlin, I’m Kyle James for Marketplace.
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