That is my point. Take care of this possibility now, so that in ten years when it is staring us in the face, we already have our protection taken care of. Right now it is a change in wording, in ten years it will cost a lot more than we can even think of in current terms.

This is a subject for a real lawyer and not a webboard lawyer like me. My understanding is that in order to sell tickets you have to be an air carrier. Our contract deals with code sharing on air carriers and thus would prohibit code sharing on "Skyteam Airlines". Certainly the implications of this would be critical to our scope language in the future, so I would recommend contacting your reps and seeing what they say about this. They can get the real lawyers to look into this to make sure that this is covered by US law and our contract.

Alfa, I have and will continue to discuss this with the elected representation.

It is an interesting and scary thought...
Skyteam Alliance Airlines could apply for an Air Carrier Certification, and as we have seen that shouldnt be too hard judging by the crap-tastic airlines that have been created in the past. This would allow Skyteam Airlines to sell and operate in the US(although they may not need to operate an actual flight). Skyteam could then approach Delta Airlines to have them provide codeshare service on their flights, which DAL does extensively already, allowing just about anyone to place their airline code on a Delta operated flight. Then Skyteam Alliance Airlines could approach every other carrier in the US and ask if they would allow the Skyteam Alliance Airlines code to be placed on their flight.

Basically this would remove Skyteam Alliance Airlines from any and all overhead costs of operation. No need for pilots, planes, gate agents, etc since they are only asking other airlines to provide codeshare for them. Typically, there isnt a lot of revenue generated by the codeshare agreements, but if your overhead costs consist of a few telephone lines and office staff then you might be able to swing a profit for the crooks at the helm of the ship.

From the customer's point of view I am sure it would drive down airline ticket prices even further by basically turning legacy carriers against each other fighting for business the same way regional carriers fight today. Customers would be able to gain frequent flier miles by flying on several carriers they couldnt in the past. I am sure Skyteam Airlines Alliance could contract out some 3rd party company to provide Lounge Access for their fliers as well.

I am sure I am oversimplifying the downward spiral and something must be preventing this situation from happening today. Right?

Well we did code share with MEH when they were not flying any of their jets, so there is a direct linkage to that. As Alfa say the word air carrier has a lot of weight to it, but we just performed a one way code share agreement with an airline that did not operate a flight. I do not know if they gave up their certificate prior to the termination of the agreement or not, but generally they would have to fly at least one flight a month to maintain it.

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