Delta Air Lines plans a shuttle service between London Heathrow Terminal 3 and New York’s JFK T4. Chief Executive Richard Anderson said: “Once we have gained the requisite approvals from the EU, Britain and the US our intention is to operate a joint Delta / Virgin shuttle from Terminal 4 into London Heathrow T3.”
“If you look at the passenger survey data, the number one rated business product in the US to Europe market is Virgin Atlantic and number two is Delta, so they will join together to offer the very best service to the business traveller between JFK and London Heathrow.”
Under the proposed joint venture, Delta and Virgin Atlantic would co-ordinate schedules, network planning, pricing and sales between North America and the UK. The two carriers would operate a total of 31 daily round trip flights between the UK and North America, 23 of which would operate at London Heathrow. The airlines also plan to implement codesharing, reciprocal frequent flier benefits and shared lounge access.
The carriers are also seeking antitrust immunity for five-way co-ordination on UK-US traffic flows so that Delta can continue to effectively operate its existing joint venture with Air France, KLM and Alitalia, alongside the proposed agreement with Virgin.
