Here is a good perspective from last year on what is happening with the Transatlantic JV:
Delta’s recent pulldown of Transatlantic flights was fairly breathtaking in its scope, but it also showed just how joint ventures can influence decisions. Delta is increasing reliance on partners, and that’s not something it might have considered doing as much without its joint venture....
This is news from last year, but since then
it has gotten worse:
Delta plans to trim an additional 5% on existing 7-8% capacity cuts
The company had previously said it would trim its trans-Atlantic capacity by 7 to 8 percent for the full year but had not given a specific forecast for the fourth quarter...Delta Air Lines will cut capacity on trans-Atlantic routes another 5 percent after Labor Day in September, a "proactive" measure aimed at blunting the risk of a weak European currency and soaring fuel costs, airline president Ed Bastian said
- ATL Paris: cut one of three daily flights
- ATL Barcelona: cut
- ATL Milan: cut
- JFK Prague: cut
- JFK Rome: cut
- JFK Athens cut
With the Euro zone in crisis it's no surprise Transatlantic flights are being cut.
What is surprising is how the cuts are fairly one sided with Delta making the vast majority of the route reductions, while relying on AFKLM/AZ to pick up the loads to the key hubs CDG and AMS and the perform the onward European flying.
We are already below 50% and cutting way more flying than our JV partners
...what is most interesting to me is how the joint venture with Air France/KLM has to have influenced this. Now, Delta can still easily serve every one of those cities via Amsterdam or Paris by connecting with its partner Air France/KLM. Sure, it could have done that before when it just had a codeshare, but that was different. Back then, it couldn’t have coordinated schedules with Air France/KLM. It couldn’t have looked at connecting flows and fares between the two airlines to come up with the best way to serve each city. Now it can, and that’s exactly what it’s doing.
This graph is nearly identical to what Delta showed investors:
The new chart for this winter will most likely look similar...
Apparently I am in the minority in finding this not keeping in the spirit of the Transatlantic JV language. We are well below the 50% mark and below even the 'low-water mark" of 47.6% when Alitalia joined the JV. For last year the cumulative production balance was 47% of the flying. For perspective: our codeshare guy RD equates a 2.4% difference as 6-7 daily transatlantic flights.
Cheers
George