Delta Air Traces should finish its deep ties to Aeromexico by January, the Trump administration dominated Monday.
After a 20-month battle between the 2 airways and the U.S. and Mexican governments, the U.S. Division of Transportation stated it is not going to enable the three way partnership between the 2 carriers to maneuver ahead.
Their three way partnership should finish by Jan. 1, in response to a ruling handed down by the DOT Monday, as first reported by Seth Miller at PaxEx.Aero.
The transfer might depart dozens of routes between the U.S. and Mexico Metropolis in jeopardy.
Delta and Aeromexico have been at odds with the U.S. authorities since January 2024, when the Biden administration first stated it might not renew the antitrust immunity that permits the 2 airways’ to coordinate on fares and flying schedules — ties that go properly past the carriers being SkyTeam alliance companions.
At subject: the DOT stated the federal government of Mexico has engaged anticompetitive techniques at Mexico Metropolis’s Benito Juarez Worldwide Airport (MEX), blocking entry to different airways in favor of Mexico’s flag service.
The airways had protested the choice, and warned unwinding the three way partnership would result in the shuttering of dozens of routes.
However after a prolonged evaluate, the DOT on Monday confirmed it might order the top to the Delta-Aeromexico three way partnership efficient on Jan. 1, 2026, arguing the aggressive panorama in Mexico Metropolis has gotten worse — not higher — in latest months.
Delta and Aeromexico’s three way partnership dates again almost a decade, and has seen the 2 carriers broaden their cross-border flying between the U.S. and Mexico considerably.
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This yr, Aeromexico’s complete seats to and from the U.S. had been set to be up almost 33% in contrast with 2019, in response to knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium. That included a large growth earlier this yr.
Delta was on monitor to develop its seats to Mexico by 17% versus six years in the past, per Cirium.
In a press release to TPG late Monday, Delta stated it was “disillusioned” by the DOT’s ruling, which it stated would trigger “important hurt to U.S. jobs, communities and shoppers touring between the U.S. and Mexico.”
It was not clear whether or not the carriers deliberate to file an attraction.
In need of that, you’d possible see some degree of cooperation between the 2 carriers proceed beneath their alliance partnership, however it’s doable — in response to previous filings by the airways — that the unwinding of their deeper tie-up might result in the top of some routes.
Delta and Aeromexico have repeatedly argued their three way partnership was good for shoppers and connectivity between the U.S. and Mexico.
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