SAS and Delta Air Lines are prepared to accept a partial approval of their extensive SkyTeam codeshare if US regulators feel there is a need to examine the situation which led US operator JetBlue Airways to object to the tie-up.
JetBlue has been seeking to codeshare with Air Serbia on routes from the USA to European Union destinations, via the Serbian capital Belgrade.
But authorities in Italy and Croatia have refused to allow the JetBlue proposal, citing traffic rights, and JetBlue argues that the US Department of Transportation should hold off approving the SAS-Delta codeshare until the reasons for the refusal are clarified.
Responding to JetBlue’s objection, SAS and Delta point out that their codeshare proposal is “very different factually” from that of JetBlue.
JetBlue is looking to codeshare with a non-EU airline, via a non-EU point, whereas SAS-Delta involves US-EU and beyond markets, and only US and EU carriers.
SAS and Delta state that the refusal of Italy and Croatia to approve JetBlue’s Air Serbia codeshare apparently relates to its being in breach of European Common Aviation Area regulations.
“[We] at this time do not know whether the interpretation of the ECAA agreement advanced by Italy and Croatia is correct or not,” they add.
They believe this issue is ultimately “not relevant” to the approval of the SAS-Delta codeshare, which is due to take effect from 1 September when SAS joins SkyTeam.
But SAS and Delta are prepared to accept a “carve-out” of the contentious markets covered by their proposed codeshare – including Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania – should the US regulator have any legitimate concerns with the points raised by JetBlue, allowing the “bulk” of the SAS-Delta codeshare to be approved in time.
SAS and Delta argue, however, that the JetBlue objection has been filed late, and close to the date on which the carriers had been looking to start ticket sales, and that it should be “rejected as untimely”.
