The New Delta Air Lines, Air-France KLM, IndiGo, & Virgin Atlantic JV

On the first day of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting (AGM), Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, and IndiGo announced that the quartet plans to build a groundbreaking partnership to connect India with Europe and North America.

IATA/ICAO Code

DL/DAL

Year Founded

1929

The partnership, underpinned by all five airlines’ codesharing on flights from, to, and within India, is still subject to regulatory approvals, with the carriers including clauses to deepen their potential collaboration in the future that go beyond regular flying activities. Simple Flying takes a look at the partnership and how it can deepen passenger flows between India, Europe, and North America.

Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, IndiGo, And Virgin Atlantic Partnership

Photo: IndiGo

On June 1, day one of the IATA AGM that began in New Delhi, India, an event that IndiGo is hosting, Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, IndiGo, and Virgin Atlantic announced that the five airlines – Air France and KLM have separate air operator’s certificates (AOCs) – signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build a partnership to improve and consolidate connections between India, North America, Europe, and beyond.

The joint statement, issued by the four companies, highlighted that India underpinned the MoU, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. The partnership would link IndiGo’s domestic network with Delta Air Lines’ North American and transatlantic routes, Air France-KLM’s reach in Europe and North America, and Virgin Atlantic’s presence across the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in broader access, smoother journeys, and a more consistent experience across continents. While IndiGo has been expanding the number of IndiGoStretch routes, its business class offering, the premium cabin is still only available on limited routes.

“Linking dozens of cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, and India, the airlines aim to meet rising demand for international travel while setting new standards for connectivity and cooperation in global aviation.”

Building On Existing Codeshare Foundations

Photo: Airbus

Pieter Elbers, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IndiGo, remarked that the Indian low-cost carrier has begun a journey to become a global airline by 2030. This includes the airline recently signing an MoU to potentially exercise another 30 Airbus A350-900 options, doubling its A350-900 backlog.

According to Elbers, who pointed out that the collaboration would expand its current partnerships with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic, the finalized MoU would mark an exciting new chapter as IndiGo would also partner with Delta Air Lines. Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic are already part of the Blue Skies joint venture (JV), while Indigo already has codeshare agreements with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

“This strategic partnership enables a compelling combined customer proposition in the form of comprehensive intercontinental connectivity, seamless experience, and great loyalty value,” Elbers added. Ed Bastian, Ben Smith, and Shai Weiss, the CEOs of Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM, and Virgin Atlantic, respectively, echoed IndiGo’s chief executive’s statements about this being an exciting time for the five airlines.

Related

Delta Air Lines & Virgin Atlantic Celebrate 10 Years Of Transatlantic Joint Venture

The two airlines have carried almost 40 million passengers across the Atlantic since 2014.

IndiGo’s Long-Haul Plans And Non-Reciprocal Codeshares

Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock

A day before the announcement of the five-airline MoU, IndiGo shed more light on its upcoming developments, including the expansion of its international network. The Indian airline, using Norse Atlantic Airways’ Boeing 787-9 aircraft on a damp lease, would fly from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) and Manchester Airport (MAN), where KLM and Virgin Atlantic are based. The flights are scheduled to start in July.

With further Norse Atlantic’s 787-9s arriving to operate flights on behalf of IndiGo, the Indian airline is also planning to fly to London, possibly Heathrow (LHR) or Gatwick (LGW), and Copenhagen Airport (CPH). The latter is becoming a major SkyTeam hub, with SAS having joined the alliance in September 2024. Once its first Airbus A321XLR, equipped with IndiGoStretch, arrives, it also plans to launch flights to Athens Airport (ATH), yet it remains unclear from where the airline will fly to Athens and London.

Photo: Great Circle Map

In addition to its long-haul ambitions, which include using six of Norse Atlantic’s 787-9s, IndiGo has a handful of codeshare partners. For example, it places its designator code on Turkish Airlines’ flights to over 30 destinations in Europe and beyond. On April 7, the Department of Transportation (DOT) approved a two-year extension for the codeshare agreement to also encompass flights from India to the United States. The codeshare network to the US, created using data from the aviation analytics company Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool, is displayed below.

Photo: Great Circle Mapper

Meanwhile, Air France-KLM and IndiGo’s codeshare agreement began on May 12, 2022. At the time, the three airlines detailed that Air France-KLM’s passengers will have access to 30 new destinations in India, while IndiGo’s travelers will benefit from more than 300 global destinations. Cirium’s Diio Mi did not show any destinations that are available as part of the agreement, while IndiGo’s booking engine showed Turkish Airlines as the only airline to offer codeshare flights from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) or Mumbai to Amsterdam, for example. Virgin Atlantic’s site read that its codeshare agreement with IndiGo, which was announced on August 31, 2022, with additional destinations being unveiled on March 30, 2023, includes 33 destinations in India.

Planned Codeshare Networks

Photo: SNEHIT PHOTO | Shutterstock

Nevertheless, the announcement on June 1 detailed that after the finalization of the MoU and the approval of regulators, IndiGo customers will be able to access KLM’s flights from Amsterdam to 30 destinations within Europe, Delta Air Lines and KLM departures from Amsterdam to the US and Canada, and Virgin Atlantic’s network from Manchester to the US.

The statement also highlighted that with KLM launching flights between Amsterdam and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) in September, Air France-KLM will begin selling IndiGo flights to 24 destinations beyond Hyderabad. Delta Air Lines is also planning to return to India, a market it has not served since 2020, when in January, February, and March 2020, it flew between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Mumbai, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed. Between November 2008 and October 2009, Delta Air Lines also operated departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Mumbai. This time, with an announcement coming at a later date, potentially following approval from the regulators, the airline plans to offer flights between Atlanta and Delhi-Indira Gandhi.

The Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic JV, Blue Skies, which should not be confused with JetBlue and United Airlines’ Blue Sky partnership, is already being monitored by the European Commission (EC). When JetBlue was struggling to gain slots in Amsterdam, which initially included non-historical slots, the Commission issued a statement that it had “actively and closely monitored the evolution of the market conditions at Amsterdam airport,” specifically because the US-based airline could not get its hands on permanent slots at the airport serving the Dutch capital.

According to the EC, it was reviewing the Blue Skies JV “to identify any risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition for transatlantic traffic, in particular on the Amsterdam-New York route” as it was ready to intervene for JetBlue to gain access to fly to Amsterdam long term. Crucially, the Commission said that it “will continue its monitoring ahead of the IATA Summer 2025 Season,” which will end on October 26.

The Amsterdam Underpin

Photo: Aerovista Luchtfotografie | Shutterstock

While the quartet’s announcement highlighted that IndiGo and its Indian network will be the focus of the new partnership, which so far has remained only an MoU and is pending final approvals, the carriers also noted that all of the connections between India and airports west of the country would either go through Amsterdam or Manchester.

Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that from Amsterdam, excluding the 30 planned intra-European codeshare destinations, Delta Air Lines and KLM have a joint 267 weekly departures to North America in June, including 17 and five destinations in the US and Canada, respectively, which does not include flights to Mexico City International Airport (MEX). Both airlines have scheduled multiple daily departures to Atlanta, Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), New York-JFK, Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ).

Photo: Great Circle Mapper

From Manchester, Virgin Atlantic only has four destinations in North America, all of which are in the US: Atlanta, Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), New York-JFK, and Orlando International Airport (MCO). The British carrier scheduled 24 weekly departures on the routes in June, including daily flights to Atlanta, New York-JFK, and Orlando.

In June, the only airlines flying between North America and India are American Airlines (Delhi to New York-JFK), Air Canada (Delhi to Toronto-Pearson and Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL)), Air India, and United Airlines (Delhi to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)). Air India, which benefits from still being able to use Russian airspace that has been denied to Western airlines due to the war in Ukraine, offers 46 out of 70 weekly departures from India to North America, offering eight routes to customers flying from India to either Canada or the US. Air India is an alliance partner of Air Canada and United Airlines in Star Alliance.

Photo: Great Circle Mapper

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