10 AIRLINE JOINT VENTURES

VIRGIN ATLANTIC + DELTA + AIR FRANCE-KLM + ALITALIA This five-way love affair covers more than 200 destinations in North America, six in the UK, and 100 in Europe. There are nine daily flights between London and New York, 39 flights a day between the UK and North America, and more than 300 flights a day between Europe and the US. Air France-KLM, Delta and Alitalia are members of Skyteam. Virgin Atlantic prefers to maintain its independence and is not a member of an alliance.

AIR FRANCE-KLM + DELTA + ALITALIA The Italian airline joined the Air FranceKLM-Delta JV in 2010 to create a threeway partnership. Together, they offer 250 transatlantic flights, with 300 destinations in North America and 250 in Europe, Asia and Latin America combined. It operates out of seven key hubs – Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York JFK, Paris CDG and Rome Fiumicino – together with Cincinnati, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Skyteam shareholders approved the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Air France-KLM to China Eastern in September.

BRITISH AIRWAYS + IBERIA + AMERICAN AIRLINES + FINNAIR Not content with all being part of Oneworld, this enhanced British-Spanish-AmericanFinnish four-way covers more than 160 cities in Europe and 240 in the US. It offers 120-plus transatlantic flights a day, including up to 17 between London and New York. BA, Iberia and AA put a ring on it in 2010. Finnair was invited to the party in 2013. Together they have hubs at Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Helsinki, London Heathrow, Madrid and New York JFK.

BRITISH AIRWAYS + JAPAN AIRLINES + FINNAIR + IBERIA British Airways entered into a Siberian joint venture with Japan Airlines, also a member of the Oneworld family, in 2012. After feeling left out in the cold, Finnair was welcomed with a warm embrace two years later, followed by Iberia in 2016. The four airlines now align prices and schedules on flights between Europe and Japan.

BRITISH AIRWAYS + QATAR AIRWAYS Last year, BA extended a hand to Oneworld carrier Qatar Airways, to create a combined network of 70 destinations. In a similar way to people doublebarrelling their surnames, the two airlines now codeshare (BA/QR) on services between London and Doha, as well as connecting flights worldwide.

LUFTHANSA + AUSTRIAN + SWISS + ANA The German and Japanese carriers were given antitrust immunity to allow them to join hands in 2011, but the following year decided they wanted Austrian and Swiss to get in on the action too, and their plans were formalised in 2013. Today this JV covers all 196 weekly flights on 11 of the participating airlines’ routes between Japan and Europe. They are all part of Star Alliance.

LUFTHANSA + AUSTRIAN AIRLINES + SWISS + BRUSSELS AIRLINES + UNITED + AIR CANADA This is a veritable gang-bang of a JV, with the Lufthansa Group joining forces with North American carriers United and Air Canada. It came about from relationships between Air Canada, Lufthansa and United in 2009 (Austrian, Brussels and Swiss came later), and now encompasses 10,000 daily flights to 570 destinations.

LUFTHANSA + SWISS + AUSTRIAN + AIR CHINA After two years of wrangling, these four airlines tied the knot in 2016 with a polyamorous route- and revenuesharing deal between Europe and China that started this summer. If they wanted to get any closer, they would have to merge.

LUFTHANSA + SWISS + SINGAPORE AIRLINES Papers were signed for this union back in 2015. Today, the joint venture provides passengers with 20 codeshare routes from Zurich and Munich to South East Asia and the South West Pacific.

QANTAS + EMIRATES These two airlines set up a mutually beneficial partnership in 2013 and now have a combined network of 2,000 routes via three hubs – Perth, Singapore and Dubai. Today it is reapplying to extend its JV for another five years, with 2018 plans for the reintroduction of London to Australia via Singapore in March. From Europe, passengers can fly to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney via Dubai. Also in March 2018 will be the world’s longest nonstop Dreamliner B787-9 flight, from London to Perth.

The battle is set to continue as budget airlines now start to seek out their own partners