Delta Air Lines chief Ed Bastian asserts that the carrier is unfazed by the recently announced partnership between competitors United Airlines and JetBlue Airways that will focus on New York.
Speaking on 1 June during IATA’s annual general meeting in New Delhi, Bastian suggested that Delta’s new codeshare agreement with IndiGo, and expanded partnerships with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic, will reap greater rewards in the long term than United and JetBlue’s “Blue Sky” interline agreement.
That commercial cooperation, revealed on 29 May, will see United and JetBlue allow passengers to earn and redeem loyalty programme points on each other’s flights.
United will also gain slots at John F Kennedy International airport for up to seven daily round-trip flights beginning as early as 2027, in return for eight timings at Newark Liberty International airport in New Jersey as part of what the airlines describe as a “net neutral exchange”.
Acknowledging that Delta’s primary rival “runs a good operation”, Bastian says he is “looking forward to competing with United anywhere around the globe”, including at its JFK stronghold, as he expresses confidence in the carrier’s competitive position in the New York area.
While United and JetBlue’s collaboration is “more around loyalty programmes”, Delta’s partnership with Indigo, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic ”is the real thing”, Bastian says.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the four-way partnership will see IndiGo add its code to KLM flights from Amsterdam to 30 points within Europe, as well as to the USA and Canada; and Virgin Atlantic flights from Manchester to the USA.
It will also see IndiGo codeshare Delta flights from Amsterdam to North America.
”This is a relationship with the fastest-growing airline in the world in one of the biggest aviation markets and biggest countries in the world here in India,” Bastian says. “So, I’m much more interested in this than a handful of slots.”
