Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM, Italy's Alitalia and Delta Air Lines of the US are in talks with Indian carrier Jet Airways about a large-scale partnership before an integration in the SkyTeam commercial alliance, French daily La Tribune reported.
Air France-KLM executives, and particularly chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, are intent on finding a partner in India, which they consider as a major and strategic market, and to catch up with competitors, La Tribune said.
Air France-KLM is negotiating an alliance with the Indian airline, Alitalia and Delta as of 2012, before an integration of Jet Airways in the SkyTeam network, La Tribune said.
The alliance between the four companies would include code-sharing, cooperation on client loyalty programmes as well as cost and revenue sharing.
Air France-KLM is also negotiating that Jet Airways transfer to Amsterdam its Brussels hub, which is connected to Brussels Airline's European network, La Tribune said. Brussels Airline is an indirect subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa.
La Tribune said that transfering the hub to Amsterdam from Brussels would mean all the contracts Jet Airways has with American airlines it connects to via Brussels would be transferred to KLM.
An agreement was due to be signed as early as March or April but the date could be postponed due to political change in India, where the government's approval is mandatory for such partnerships, La Tribune said. Cargonews Asia |