Delta Airlines 2011 Annual Report Download - page 9

Transatlantic joint venture . In addition to being members in SkyTeam with Air France and KLM, both of which are subsidiaries of the same holding
company, and Alitalia, we have a transatlantic joint venture agreement with these carriers. This agreement provides for the sharing of revenues and costs on
transatlantic routes, as well as coordinated pricing, scheduling and product development on included routes. Pursuant to this joint venture, we, Air France-
KLM and Alitalia operate an extensive transatlantic network, primarily on routes between North America and Europe, and secondarily on routes between
North America and Africa, the Middle East and India, and routes between Europe and Central America and several countries in northern South America.
Transpacific joint venture with Virgin Australia Airlines. In June 2011, we and Virgin Australia Airlines received approval of antitrust immunity for our
transpacific alliance. Antitrust immunity will allow us to implement a proposed joint venture that will expand the reach of Delta and Virgin Australia between
the United States and Australia and the South Pacific. The alliance will create a network able to serve thousands of city-pairs in North America and the South
Pacific. Alone, we serve only Sydney in Australia and Virgin Australia flies only to Los Angeles in the United States. The antitrust immunized alliance will
allow the airlines to fully cooperate on network planning and distribution to deliver a more attractive and competitive service for customers.
Enhanced commercial agreements with Latin American Carriers. In 2011, we entered into separate agreements with Grupo Aeroméxico, S.A.B. de C.V.,
the parent company of Aeroméxico, and GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, S.A, the parent company of GOL, for a strategic equity investment in each
company and an exclusive commercial relationship with their carriers. We believe this will secure our long-term position in the important and expanding
Latin markets of Mexico and Brazil, respectively. The agreements provide for expansion of codesharing, additional alignment of service attributes offered to
frequent flyer members of our Sky Miles program and the other carriers' programs, and additional cooperation for selling activities. The expanded relationship
with Aeroméxico also contemplates the establishment of a joint-venture maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Domestic Alliances
We have entered into a marketing alliance with Alaska Airlines, which includes mutual codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer and airport lounge
access arrangements. Our alliance agreement with Alaska Airlines provides for extensive cooperation with respect to our west coast presence.
We also have frequent flyer and reciprocal lounge agreements with Hawaiian Airlines, and codesharing agreements with American Eagle Airlines
(“American Eagle”) and Hawaiian Airlines. These marketing relationships are designed to permit the carriers to retain their separate identities and route
networks while increasing the number of domestic and international connecting passengers using the carriers' route networks.
Regional Carriers
We have air service agreements with multiple domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to our route system by serving passengers primarily in small-
and medium-sized cities. These arrangements enable us to increase the number of flights we have available in certain locations and to better match capacity
with demand. Approximately 21% of our passenger revenue in 2011 was related to flying by regional air carriers.
Through our regional carrier program, we have contractual arrangements with ten regional carriers to operate regional jet and, in certain cases, turbo-prop
aircraft using our “DL” designator code. In addition to our wholly-owned subsidiary, Comair, we have contractual arrangements with: ExpressJet Airlines,
Inc. (formerly, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc.) and SkyWest Airlines, Inc., both subsidiaries of SkyWest, Inc.; Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. and Shuttle
America Corporation, both subsidiaries of Republic Airways Holdings, Inc.; Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. and Mesaba Aviation, Inc. ("Mesaba"), both subsidiaries
of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. ("Pinnacle"); Compass Airlines, Inc. ("Compass") and GoJet Airlines, LLC, both subsidiaries of Trans States Holdings, Inc.
("Trans States"); and American Eagle.
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