Air France, KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic Launch Expanded Airline Partnership

Air France, KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic have launched an expanded joint venture offering a greater choice of routes and loyalty options when travelling between Europe, the UK and North America.

The new partnership provides customers with more convenient flight schedules and the flexibility to book flights on any of the four carriers through their respective mobile apps, websites, or via travel agents.

According to an announcement, enhanced customer benefits start from February 13, meaning that loyalty program 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.

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..

Air France, KLM and Delta have been in a joint venture partnership between Europe and North America since 2009, while Virgin Atlantic and Delta have had a partnership between the UK and North America since 2013.

Establishing a single transatlantic joint venture was the next strategic step in the collaboration between the airlines.

“This new agreement is a major milestone that will further reinforce our presence on the Atlantic, by allowing our passengers the choice between four major airlines, that combine their network for the benefit of customers,” said Air France-KLM Group CEO Benjamin Smith.