Paul Lewis/ORLANDO
Grupo TACA has opened partnership discussions with other oneworld Alliance members as the Central American carrier seeks to strengthen its relationship with American Airlines.
"We're planning alliances with other oneworld partners in the Far East, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Talks have started and the intent is to eventually participate with all of them," says Federico Bloch, Grupo TACA chief executive.
Grupo Taca would complement LanChile, which is shortly to be admitted formally to one oneworld. It would provide members from those regions - British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, and Qantas - with improved access to Central and South America.
In the meantime, the El Salvador-based group has applied to the US Government for anti-trust immunity for its alliance with oneworld member American. The four-year old alliance has been limited until now to the co-ordination of services and marketing.
"Requesting anti-trust immunity makes sense so we can create the sort of alliance that we need-it will allow us to have integrated networks, services and pricing," says Bloch.
The move is likely to meet with the opposition of competing US carriers. Last October TACA filed a complaint with the US authorities, accusing Continental Airlines of "predatory pricing" on flights to the region. TACA's home nations, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, have had open skies deals with the USA since 1997.
"Anti-trust immunity has been granted to every single open skies country that has requested it, so there is no reason why the USA should act differently in this case," argues Bloch. Chile made immunity for the LanChile/American Alliance a condition for its recent approval of an open skies deal with the USA.
Not included in the application is the carrier's recently launched affiliate TACA Peru. Lima is embroiled in a dispute with Washington over its failure to grant Peruvian carriers unlimited access to the USA, despite the existence of an open skies agreement and its current Category one Federal Aviation Administration safety rating.
Instead, Peruvian carriers Aero Continente and LanPeru are forced to use wet-leased Boeing 757s and 767s on services to Miami, while TACA Peru is delaying plans to fly to the USA until the end of the year. "There is nothing legally that should be in the way," says Lorenzo Sousa, LanPeru president.
TACA will lease four Airbus A319s to its Peruvian arm in July, with two more following by the end of the year.
Source: Flight International
