British Air Discusses Link With Delta
 

If the talks succeed, British Air would join SkyTeam, the alliance recently formed by Delta and Air France. The move would satisfy British Air's need for both a European and trans-Atlantic partner, the executives said.

An alliance with Delta presumably would not face the kind of opposition that British Air's agreement with American did because Delta does not have access to Heathrow. But it would give British Air access to a domestic network nearly the same size as American's.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/27/business/27AIR.html

"The talks are to see how the land lies. We are surveying the scene," said one official cited by the FT. In the wake of the recent collapse of BA's negotiations to take over KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, the UK airline "has to explore all its possible options," he said.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/10/972814611.html

In Europe, BA seeks opportunities for expansion because of congestion at Heathrow. A link with AF would give it access to Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of the few major airports in Europe with potential for growth.

But any alliance with AF is likely to raise severe competition concerns, however, as it would link two of Europe's three biggest airlines.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/10/972814611.html

It is far from certain that the BA-led Oneworld global airline marketing alliance is about to collapse, but the men from Waterside are preparing members such as Qantas for the worst. Waterside, BA's headquarters near London's Heathrow airport, has been leaking to selected London media that the unthinkable might happen. A similar process of managing forthcoming bad news has been under way in Dallas, headquarters of American Airlines, and Oneworld's second most important member. BA, which owns 25 per cent of Qantas, is prepared to ditch Oneworld because the market growth it sought with American Airlines has failed to eventuate.

It has courted KLM/Northwest without success, and is now dating the SkyTeam alliance comprising Air France, Delta and Korean Airlines, a combination likely to make loyal BA customers choke on their pre-flight canapes. With BA's access to a combined market of 600 million rich American and European business travellers at risk, the embarrassment this infidelity might cause to Qantas is of no consequence. At Qantas the shutters are down on speculation about Oneworld's future. "It is business as usual," is the only comment.

Besides, the really important commercial relationship between BA & Qantas is the Joint Services Agreement which according to Rod Eddington, the CEO of BA, saves the airline the equivalent of one-and-a-half jumbo jets a year on flights between Australia and the UK and Europe.

http://www.afr.com.au/features/20001...2000Oct29.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-30-2000).]

The WSJ also picked up the story, available to all at http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB972855159891470157.html

Quoting: "It may be more feasible for British Airways to cooperate with SkyTeam than American, since Delta doesn't operate from Heathrow."