Karen Walker
US majors are looking southwards as American Airlines receives its long-awaited go-ahead for a codeshare with the Taca group and jockeys with its competitors for other prized Latin American alliances and routes.
After 18 months, and a storm of protest from other US and central American carriers, American and Taca received the news they had been waiting for: the Department of Transportation will grant a two year approval for their codeshare. The approval in January came, however, with restrictions, including a ban on exclusivity deals that prevent either carrier from arranging codeshares with other airlines. The DOT acknowledges that the codeshare raises competitive issues but says other US airlines have not presented convincing arguments for a full oral evidentiary hearing.
The deal sets the tone for what many expect will be a busy year in US-Latin American aviation relationships. American and LanChile are seeking antitrust immunity for their proposed alliance, pointing out that the Chilean government regards DOT approval as a condition of completing the open skies agreement, initialled by the two countries at the end of the year. Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines have filed to begin services to Santiago, while United should seek to expand its Chile services.
As a counter to the deal between American and Taca, Continental is seeking approval to serve points between the US and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, which have all signed open skies accords with the US. Continental also wants to fly to Belize.
Source: Airline Business
