My initial thought is hooray and hopefully they kill the joint ventures sp we do that flying ourselves but maybe I'm missing something. Thoughts...

 

You're not missing something: you're adding something. You're adding an "s". They're not going after ventures. Just ours.

It's just another slap across the face, from a regulatory standpoint. Means someone owes the Brits and the Spaniards a favor WRT protecting oneworld and helping them control/retain AMR. And the Germans are too powerful to be touched.

Also, you'll notice United and American are making the right noises, to make IAG and LH happy: thye're whining that we don't have full transatlantic mergers. RA said ont he last call that we don't need mergers, since alliances work just like mergers. The very next day, the Europeans announce the probe.

So if you hope threatening to kill our venture is going to make RA buy a bunch of airplanes, your heart is in the right place, but your brain isn't: it'll merely lead to Delta lobbying for mergers along with the others. Didn't like sharing with AF/KLM before? Not to worry, they'll solve the problem by making sure your flying is now their flying.

Guess which side of the Atlantic has strong labor protections that prevent job losses, and guess which side doesn't?

Perverse conclusions, but probably an accurate analysis. Sorry.

 

I can't wait to bid the Nice, France base. It will be NICE!

 

Just curious? If you don't fly over your contractual limits, how can you be "overworked". If you want to compare the 88 fleet to the rest of the fleets, then I would probably agree.

 

It will also prep the political battlefield in the event that AA splits up - so that oneworlds euro carriers have good dance partners. They don't care about monopoly, they care about employment. AF/KLM wont have to divest anything (unless economically they can't sustain it), but Oneworld's euro arm will get some action from them or get spliced into skyteam/ star.

 

IDK f you are on reserve or not, but if you are and you are working a lot, Rolling Thunder will put a smile on your face.

 

This is really a limited probe for certain routes. The larger antitrust probe against SkyTeam was recently closed.

Star is not immune:

My guess is we'll see a few more odd Transatlantic routes added for Delta to appease the regulators funded by pulling down capacity on others.

In March we'll be at a roughly 46% share of the drastically pulled-down transatlantic JV, so there will be ample room for Delta to add a flight here or there.

One aspect to consider: this is a profit-sharing JV.
Delta is profitable, whereas AFKLM/AZ isn't right now.
It's not in Deltas corporate interest to increase Delta's share of flying if the profit gets split with the other team, even if it's capped.

Cheers
George

 

So that is what it's like! Goodbye elliptical.

 

Thanks George,

I didn't realize another probe was ongoing for STAR.

Come to think of it, we've reduced VERY aggressively on some routes, which caused yields to rise fairly dramatically (the call said +17% across the Atlantic). Maybe we're squeezing the goose a little tight by reducing offerings a little too much.

I don't understand your last statement. If AF/KLM is not profitable, it's because of their entire network. Presumably we're both doing equally well/poorly across the Atlantic. Why mess with it?