British European could become the UK partner of the Air France/Delta Air Lines-led SkyTeam alliance early next year, following confirmation that the airline will start codesharing with the US carrier from November.
Barry Perrott, the British region-al's chief executive says it is about to extend its codeshare agreement with Air France to almost all the UK airline's routes and will follow this with an agreement with Delta. Perrott confirms that British European is already in advanced negotiations with the US carrier and expects to have Delta codes on its flights in time for its winter schedule, beginning in November (Flight International 20-26 March).
British European is also thought to be in negotiations for new routes into Florence and other Italian destinations. Perrott suggests that the talks on a merger between Air France and Alitalia, believed to be dubbed "Project Albatross", are advanced and that the Italian carrier is helping it gain slots, which will be serviced from the second quarter of 2002 by its new BAE Systems Avro RJX-100s. British European is also considering integrating its frequent flyer programme into the alliance's.
Air France has already brought the Fairchild Dornier 328 jet fleet of Italian regional Gandalf into a codeshare agreement and is keen to increase flights from Italy, Germany and the UK into its Charles de Gaulle hub.
Source: Flight International
