Delta Airlines is expanding its Latin American reach with moves to tighten its connections with partner Aeromexico, including increasing its shares in Aeromexico to 49%, the maximum Mexico permits for a foreign company.
The two airlines are already close partners, and in December announced plans for a joint venture to operate their U.S.-Mexico flights on a common basis and share revenues, similar to Delta’s trans-Atlantic joint venture with Virgin Atlantic and AirFrance-KLM. Both airlines are SkyTeam members and have extensive code-sharing.
Mexico’s economy has shown weaknesses, including a declining value of its peso, which may hurt Aeromexico’s domestic business, but might mean increasing tourism business from the U.S. Aeromexico also has a route network that dips deep into South America; the combination may help Delta’s position against other U.S. carriers expanding into the region, including Jet Blue.
