Delta And Latam Join Venture Obtains The Approval From DOT

The US Department of Transportation has given final clearance to Delta and LATAM’s joint venture, allowing passengers to visit more than 300 destinations between the US/Canada and South America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay).

Once implemented, the approval allows Delta and LATAM Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Brazil, LATAM Airlines Colombia, LATAM Airlines Peru, and LATAM Airlines Paraguay to begin work on unlocking new customer and cargo benefits, such as enhanced service and expanded route offerings, to complement the existing codeshare routes and reciprocal loyalty benefits.

“The DOT’s final approval of Delta’s partnership with Latam will help grow the market between north and south America and provide significant and much-needed benefits for customers, and we applaud the DOT for this final approval”, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.

“We’ll now work with LATAM to improve the travel experience for our collective customers and generate new opportunities for our staff.”

“The clearance by the DOT will give rise to the commencement of collaboration with Delta to bring more and better advantages to LATAM and Delta customers, such as faster connections and combined accrual of miles in frequent flyer programmes, among many others,” said Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM Airlines Group. I am confident that, over time, we will be able to provide the greatest connections while embracing a long-term perspective.”

Delta and LATAM announced in 2019 that they would join an airline alliance spanning the Americas to enhance travel options across North and South America.

Since then, the partners have accomplished several objectives, including mutual frequent flyer mile accumulation/redemption; reciprocal elite frequent flyer benefits; shared terminals at hub airports such as New York JFK, So Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile; and mutual access to 53 Delta Sky Club lounges in the United States and five LATAM Lounges in South America, including Delta’s new show-stopping Sky Club in Los Angeles and the new LATAM Lounge Santiago de Chile.

Delta and LATAM launched their first codeshare services in South America in 2020. By 2021, they would have expanded codeshare services to 20 U.S.-South America routes, as well as connections to a wide range of domestic and regional destinations from their hubs in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Santiago, Lima, Bogota, and So Paulo, improving connectivity between the two regions.

Delta stated that further information about the partnership’s benefits would be released in the coming months.