News
Air France, KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic have launched
their expanded joint venture offering a greater choice of routes and loyalty
options when travelling between Europe, the U.K. and North America.
The new partnership provides customers with more convenient
flight schedules and a shared goal of ensuring a smooth and consistent travel
experience, whichever airline people fly.
The partnership also provides the flexibility to book flights on any of
the four carriers through their respective mobile apps, websites, or via travel
agents. Customers will enjoy award-winning service, top-tier premium cabin
products and complimentary food, drink and seat-back in-flight entertainment in
all cabins on all trans-Atlantic flights.
Enhanced customer benefits starting from 13 February mean
that loyalty programme members will be able to earn and use miles or enjoy
elite benefits for flights on any of the four airlines’ worldwide operations,
including a trans-Atlantic trip, intra-Europe hops, or domestic U.S. journey,
offering more opportunities to quickly move through loyalty tiers and reach a
higher status. Eligible Elite loyalty programme members can also enjoy priority
boarding and relax in over 100 airport lounges when travelling internationally.
Other highlights include:
Up to 341 peak daily trans-Atlantic services, covering the
top 10 routes on a nonstop basis
Onward connections to 238 cities in North America, 98 in
continental Europe and 16 in the UK
A choice of 110 nonstop trans-Atlantic routes
The enhanced network is also fully available to cargo
customers and is built around the carriers’ hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston,
Detroit, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York-JFK, Paris,
Seattle and Salt Lake City. It creates convenient nonstop or one-stop
connections to every corner of North America, Europe and the U.K..
Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said: “Customers are at the
heart of this expanded joint venture with our partners Delta, Air France and
KLM, where seamless connections, a greater range of flights, unrivalled
customer service and increased frequent flyer benefits will reinforce its
position as the choice passengers most love to fly. One of the pillars of our
strategy is successfully collaborating with our partners. Combining our
strengths, our network, and our people allows us to achieve more together.”
The customer benefits effective this month are just the
start, with more initiatives being rolled out later this year such as the
launch of more codeshare routes, aligning schedules to reduce connection times
and smoothing the airport experience from check-in to baggage claim. Customers
will also soon be able to check-in and select their seat through any of the
partner airline mobile apps or websites.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian commented: “Our expanded partnership is
a major step forward for all of our airlines as we deliver greater reliability,
top travel benefits and leading service that our customers deserve. Today’s
launch brings our historic, longstanding collaboration to a new level as we
continue to build the partnership of choice across Europe and North America
that sets us apart from the rest of the industry.”
“Ten years after starting our joint venture with Delta, this
new agreement is a major milestone that will even further reinforce our
presence on the Atlantic, by allowing our passengers the choice between four
major airlines combining their network for the benefit of our customers,” said
Air France-KLM Group CEO Benjamin Smith. “For Air France–KLM, it also means
greater access to the U.K. market and especially London Heathrow, the leading
global travel market.”
Other key facts and figures on the expanded joint venture:
The JV represents approximately 23 per cent of total
passenger and cargo trans-Atlantic capacity
Combined annual revenues of the JV are estimated at US$13
billion
Over 180,000 employees work across Air France, KLM, Delta and
Virgin Atlantic.
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Credit: woleshadare.net
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