Continental Airlines is moving to strengthen the presence of the planned Wings alliance in Latin America through tie-ups with smaller carriers. The plan is to compete for access with oneworld and the Star Alliance.
The Houston-based carrier confirms it would like Venezuelan partner Aserca Airlines to join the Wings camp alongside fellow US major Northwest Airlines, KLM of the Netherlands and Italy's Alitalia. Aserca membership would also improve Wings' access to the Caribbean via its stake in Air Aruba.
Continental has a 50% stake in Panama's Copa Airlines and is among a number of US carriers striving for a stake in Colombia's Avianca. It is also known to be talking with partner Vasp about purchasing the Brazilian carrier's 49% stake in airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano.
Industry speculation has also linked Continental to a move for a Paraguayan airline and with Central American carrier TACA International Airlines.
The drive by the US carrier to strengthen its position in Latin America is essentially a response to the growing strength of the oneworld and Star alliances in the region. Continental earlier opted not to rescue bankrupt Peruvian national carrier AeroPeru after Delta pulled its stake in the airline. Delta has since signed up Aeromexico as a launch member of the global alliance it is putting together with new partner Air France.
Star has the strongest presence in Latin America by virtue of its inclusion of Brazilian flag carrier Varig and of Mexicana, although oneworld is catching up fast. LanChile is set to join the American Airlines/British Airways-led alliance and is likely to be followed by Aerolineas Argentinas, in which the Chilean carrier is pursuing the majority stake to be sold by Spanish-controlled Interinvest.
American and BA already own stakes in Aerolineas. LanChile has also been active in launching LanPeru, filling the void left by AeroPeru.
Source: Flight International
