SEOUL: Korean Air Lines Co. said Thursday it will launch a joint venture partnership with Delta Air Lines Inc. to offer routes in the trans-Pacific market, as Seoul gave the green light to the plan.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved the plan on the condition that they not reduce the current level of seats provided on the five routes between the two countries and to annually report achievements of customer benefits.
The ministry had been reviewing whether to approve the plan after the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding earlier to establish the partnership to strengthen their competitiveness and improve customer service.
The US authorities approved the plan in November last year. The two companies' combined network will give Delta and Korean Air's shared customers access to more than 290 destinations in the Americas and more than 80 in Asia, the Korean firm said.
Some other services to be offered include improved reciprocal loyalty programme benefits, such as providing customers the ability to earn more customer mileage, according to the company.
Both airlines are founding members of the SkyTeam alliance and have offered customers an expanded code-share network since 2016.
"We are delighted to announce the launch of our partnership with Delta," said Cho Yang-ho, chairman and CEO of Korean Air. "This partnership will enhance convenience for customers flying between Asia and the Americas."
Delta CEO Ed Bastian also spoke highly of the agreement.
"Our expanded partnership means a host of new destinations and travel options across Asia and North America, with seamless connectivity, world-class reliability and the industry's best customer service," he said. A ministry official said the arrangement will be closely tracked. "We will closely monitor the reports and check any side effects that could occur on the routes where the two firms have a big market share," the official said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.