Aerolineas Argentinas Said to Join Delta-Air France's SkyTeam Next Month
By Mary Jane Credeur, Rodrigo Orihuela and Steve Rothwell - Sep 21, 2010 7:50 PM GMT+0200
Aerolineas Argentinas SA, South America’s fifth-biggest airline, will next month join the SkyTeam alliance led by Delta Air Lines Inc. and Air France-KLM Group, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement.
The state-owned company, based in Buenos Aires, will sign an accord to join SkyTeam as soon as the final week of October, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public.
Adding Aerolineas would help SkyTeam vie with rival group Oneworld, whose Lan Airlines SA of Chile is buying Brazil’s Tam SA and which dominates long-haul flights to South America through American Airlines and Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA of Spain. The Star alliance hasn’t had a local member since Brazil’s bankruptcy-threatened Varig was expelled in 2007.
“We’ve been in talks with SkyTeam and Star and I think SkyTeam are the strongest,” Max Campos, Aerolineas’s sales manager in London, said in a telephone interview, adding that he couldn’t confirm whether or not a deal had been done.
Daniel Mendez, an Aerolineas Argentinas spokesman, declined to comment when contacted by telephone. Mariano Recalde, the company’s president, did not immediately return a message left on his mobile phone seeking a response. Delta has no comment on potential alliance activity, spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
The Argentine government took over Aerolineas from Spain’s Grupo Marsans in 2009. The company and sister carrier Austral operate domestic routes and international flights to cities including Sao Paulo, Miami, Paris, Madrid and Sydney.
SkyTeam’s Amsterdam-based spokeswoman Marisca Kensenhuis said the alliance never discloses potential new members until an agreement is signed.
To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net; Rodrigo Orihuela in Buenos Aires at rorihuela@bloomberg.net; Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at mcredeur@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors on this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net; Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...r-france-s-skyteam-next-month.html?cmpid=yhoo
By Mary Jane Credeur, Rodrigo Orihuela and Steve Rothwell - Sep 21, 2010 7:50 PM GMT+0200
Aerolineas Argentinas SA, South America’s fifth-biggest airline, will next month join the SkyTeam alliance led by Delta Air Lines Inc. and Air France-KLM Group, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement.
The state-owned company, based in Buenos Aires, will sign an accord to join SkyTeam as soon as the final week of October, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public.
Adding Aerolineas would help SkyTeam vie with rival group Oneworld, whose Lan Airlines SA of Chile is buying Brazil’s Tam SA and which dominates long-haul flights to South America through American Airlines and Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA of Spain. The Star alliance hasn’t had a local member since Brazil’s bankruptcy-threatened Varig was expelled in 2007.
“We’ve been in talks with SkyTeam and Star and I think SkyTeam are the strongest,” Max Campos, Aerolineas’s sales manager in London, said in a telephone interview, adding that he couldn’t confirm whether or not a deal had been done.
Daniel Mendez, an Aerolineas Argentinas spokesman, declined to comment when contacted by telephone. Mariano Recalde, the company’s president, did not immediately return a message left on his mobile phone seeking a response. Delta has no comment on potential alliance activity, spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
The Argentine government took over Aerolineas from Spain’s Grupo Marsans in 2009. The company and sister carrier Austral operate domestic routes and international flights to cities including Sao Paulo, Miami, Paris, Madrid and Sydney.
SkyTeam’s Amsterdam-based spokeswoman Marisca Kensenhuis said the alliance never discloses potential new members until an agreement is signed.
To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net; Rodrigo Orihuela in Buenos Aires at rorihuela@bloomberg.net; Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at mcredeur@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors on this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net; Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...r-france-s-skyteam-next-month.html?cmpid=yhoo
