http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...ing-shows.html


First we lose RG to bankruptcy, now our recent South American partner TAM is being bought by a OW carrier....

:/
I don't think COPA is up to the job!

Hopefully, this is good news

There is no buying but an official merger, two companies similarly sized; TAM has twice the pax, higher revenue and more aircrafts, though LAN operates at 50% more TAM's EBITDA.

LATAM, the new airline, will control both TAM and LAN operations as well as all the subs that TAM/LAN have below them.

There is to be one FF Program, for sure, but not informed which Alliance they will choose.



Further info is being discussed below:

LATAM - TAM & LAN merging operations

Please... put them both in *A! It's the only way I'm ever going to FF ticket to Easter Island.

Timothy

I am sure OW, especially AA & BA will fight for the new airline to stick with them.

And the *A programs will fight on that side. I wouldn't say that anything is decided yet. I do agree that it is likely the airlines will eventually combine their FF programs but there are a lot more questions than answers right now, I think.

Am I the only one seeing this merger proposal will NOT go through? LATAM will be the biggest player in Latin America by a wide margin - completely dominating markets of Brazil and Chile.

I think the Chilean government is fine with it since President Pinera is essentially the owner of LAN, and Chile is very pro-business and wants to be the leader in South America. Different story in Brazil however and there's a serious anti-trust/competition issue there.

I see most lobbying by Star and oneworld will be in Brazil. Star Alliance will first try to get LATAM in ther camp, with Plan B of lobbying to block the merger if LATAM goes with oneworld. Plan C is to accelerate the ascension of Avianca-TACA . Too bad Aerolineas Argentinas is not "rescuable". Argentina the country and the market is great. The government is terrible.

If I were Star Alliance I would also lobby the governments of Peru and Argentina to block the merger, ie forced separation of LAN Peru and LAN Argentina from LATAM, should LATAM goes to oneworld.

There just aren't that many airlines in South America for every allliance to share, unlike China and India. Star Alliance should seriously get LATAM in their camp.

I am not sure whether it will be blocked , but I do foresee a lot of opposition to it - particularly if the combined entity decides to go with OW -the combination of AA/LA/JJ/IB would dominate intercontinental travel to/from South America and intra-continental traffic within the South America .

We are dealing with carriers from six countries ( seven if you count the fact that LA intend to have LAN Colombia next year who would presumably be included in this deal ) and I would imagine at least as many countries outside the deal will have their competition authorities scrutinising the deal . My suspicion is that eventually it will scrape through , but that is by means certain and it is far from a done deal .

Could ST as laughing third party woo them to their camp?

They could try , but that would involve paying two lots of exit fees wouldn't it ? For LAN group to leave OW and for JJ to leave *A , whereas if LATAM opt for either OW or *A then only one lot of exit fees would be payable . Not being rude , but what specifically would Skyteam have to offer LATAM that would be worth incurring the additional costs involved in having both parties of LATAM leaving their current alliances rather than just one party?

where two parties are fighting for the prize.... sometimes the third one is lucky

not saying it will happen, of course

Who knows? Maybe it'll be the first airline to be in both alliances.

I don't see that happening because I believe in the long run they will combine the FFP. I think this is a toss up between OW and *A. I am not making a guess on this one yet too many variables.

I don't see it either, but not the the reason you're citing. If the alliances would allow it, a single program could conceivably to belong to both.

What is interesting is how silent AA has been on this issue. No statements or anything. Seeing how AA and LA have ATI, I really have to believe that AA knew about this well in advance.

Or gets stepped on. Like the old African proverb says "When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers". Skyteam is the grass in this case.