I never said that there was a requirement the slots be used on ATLGRU. Trust me, I know far more than you about this stuff (still waiting for Delta to sue to stop the LAXMEX route transfer).
All I pointed out is that Delta is doing exactly what American was doing - planning a route transfer without making it's intentions clear.
for someone who thinks they know so much about the legalities of the business, you have an absolutely abysmal grasp of the practical realities.
we're still waiting for AA's MIA-NRT service.... and what new LAX to Asia flights can we expect next year?
you do realize that AA is actually dropping domestic service from LAX, don't you?
DL will start LAX-MEX on its own metal and despite what you seem to think, DL's increased cooperation with AM is going forward... we'll see what they call it but it is happening.
I agree this is probably more about GOL - and ultimately using a Delta 767 to replace GOL's suboptimal, 1-stop 737 Brazil-MCO service. But still - going up against TAM, Azul and (at least for now) GOL in MCO-SAO? Have fun with that, Delta.
the target is AA, not Azul or TAM. AA is the largest US carrier from MCO to Brazil and Latin America as a whole. DL can pick off some US-Brazil traffic on its own but G3 helps tremendously with doing that the Brazil point of sale. DL might actually be dusting off its plans for an MCO-Latin America hub. Given that DL has done very well competing against B6 in NYC, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that DL will piggyback on B6's growth. And diversion of a lot of traffic which AA carried on MIA-Latin America would absolutely weaken AA.
and I believe MCO is in the process of expanding their int'l terminal, no? No shortage of gates at MCO.
and if DL has decided not to compete directly against AA from MIA except on a handful of key routes such as to Gol/AM hubs in Latin America but instead focus on top O&Ds elsewhere, then the only way for AA to try to hold onto those passengers is to price well below the market or jump into the MCO market against that same list of carriers including now DL and trash its own MIA hub.
Gol's one-stop flights get out of the picture and this is probably a setup for a JV with them... DL does have seats on Gol's board. Gol couldn't share revenues with DL and thus had to offer its own service but under a JV, they can share DL's revenues.
the only routes that are missing for DL/G3 from Brazil is MIA-GRU and GIG.
btw, let's see how these new enhanced US-Brazil airline partnerships work. DL and G3 will be one. Perhaps Avianca and UA will form one. Azul and B6 will form one... but the problem with AA and JJ is that they are so dominant in the market that they will have to divest slots at GRU which is still limited access at peak US-Brazil flight times in order to get a JV.
wonder when that will happen.
this will be the US-UK market part 2
oh, comm,
you do realize that it is AA that reported a $1 billion loss on its Latin system in the 4th quarter, don't you?
