Celebrating a decade of leading travel between North America and Europe

June 4, 2019 – Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines are celebrating 10 years of their successful trans-Atlantic cooperation, a partnership that has continued to lead the industry and set a trend for others to follow.

Over the past decade, together the airlines have soared to new heights as they opened up new routes between Europe and North America and improved customer service. Built around a network of seven hubs – five in the United States and two in Europe – the partnership covers routes between Canada, United States, Mexico and Europe.

“In 10 years, our North-Atlantic JV has become the most advanced example of what an airline partnership can be and what it can bring to the customers,” said Patrick Alexandre, Air France-KLM Group Executive Vice President Commercial, Sales & Alliances. “The success of our JV with Delta comes from our combined and multiple offer which is adapted to all customers, from B2C to trade and corporate. Together with our integrated commercial teams, we aim at delivering the best service to our clients all along their journey. We are very proud of our achievements and look forward to further expanding our JV.”

Some highlights include:

• Customers have benefited as the partnership has 38 more peak day North America to Europe flights today than 10 years ago bringing the number to more than 270 daily trans-Atlantic flights.
• It’s now easier to connect to destinations across North America and Europe thanks to more hub-to-hub flying, such as Detroit-Paris and Atlanta-Amsterdam that offer a wealth of onward flights. The partnership has also opened up new U.S.-Europe city pairs that would not be possible for them to do alone, including service from non-hub cities, including Indianapolis, Raleigh/Durham and Dallas-Fort-Worth, to Paris and Tampa-Amsterdam.
• Eligible customers can use the largest airport lounge network across North America and Europe.
• There are opportunities to earn miles and redeem them on a number of benefits, including flight upgrades through each airlines’ frequent flyer programmes.
• The partners carry 20% more customers today compared to 10 years ago.

“We have a lot to be proud of from the past 10 years. The key to our success has been continuing to innovate and a commitment to constantly improve our customer experience,” said Steve Sear, Delta’s President & Executive Vice President Global Sales. “Customers have benefitted from our award-winning service, and close integration of our systems and teams in the airport, sales, call centres and back office. Most recently, we have expanded our cooperation to include Africa, improving the travel options for new and existing customers.”

The Delta, Air France and KLM partnership has its foundations in a previous agreement between KLM and Northwest Airlines. Following the U.S. and European Union Open Skies agreement in 2007and the merger between Delta and Northwest, the Air France-KLM Group and Delta announced their long-term joint venture on May 20, 2009. Just over one year later, Alitalia joined the partnership, offering new flying opportunities between North America and Italy. Last year, Delta invested €375 million to acquire 10 percent equity in the Air France-KLM Group.

About Delta

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the U.S. global airline leader in products, services, innovation, reliability and customer experience. Powered by its 80,000 people around the world, Delta continues to invest billions in its people, improving the air travel experience and generating industry-leading shareholder returns. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta offers more than 5,000 daily departures and as many as 15,000 affiliated departures including the premier SkyTeam alliance, of which Delta is a founding member. The airline serves nearly 200 million people every year, taking customers to more than 300 destinations in over 50 countries. Delta operates significant hubs and key markets at airports in the United States and worldwide in conjunction with its alliance partners. More about Delta can be found on the Delta News Hub as well as delta.com, via @DeltaNewsHub on Twitter and Facebook.com/delta.

About Air France-KLM Group

A global giant with a strong European base, the Air France-KLM Group’s main areas of business are passenger transport, cargo transport and aeronautical maintenance.

Air France-KLM is the leading Group in terms of international traffic on departure from Europe. It offers its customers access to a network covering 312 destinations in 116 countries thanks to Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Transavia. With a fleet of 550 aircraft and 101.4 million passengers carried in 2018, Air France-KLM operates up to 2,300 daily flights, mainly from its hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

Its Flying Blue loyalty program is one of the leaders in Europe with over 15 million members.

Together with its partners Delta Air Lines and Alitalia, Air France and KLM operates the largest transatlantic joint venture with more than 275 daily flights.

The group also offers cargo transport and aeronautical maintenance solutions.

Air France and KLM are also members of the SkyTeam alliance which has 19 member airlines, offering customers access to a global network of over 14,500 daily flights to more than 1,150 destinations in more than 175 countries.