MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Delta Air Lines buys a 20% stake in LATAM Group for US$ 1.9bn

Following its tie-up with Delta, LATAM will exit Oneworld and pursue route options with Delta and its partner Grupo Aeromexico, which belong to SkyTeam

Delta Air Lines said on Thursday it would buy a 20% stake in LATAM Airlines Group for US$1.9 billion, creating a major new airline partnership and ending the Chilean carrier's ties with American Airlines.

The surprise deal with Latin America's largest carrier will give Delta a much bigger footprint in the region, a key growth market in which LATAM flies to dozens of destinations including cities in Argentina, Peru and Brazil.

The LATAM deal is Delta's largest since it merged with Northwest Airlines a decade ago.

American Airlines Group, which has long been the leading US carrier in the region and was pursuing a deeper route alliance with LATAM, said the loss of its Chilean partner would not have a significant impact on its financial results.

American added that its LATAM partnership had limited upside after the Chilean Supreme Court struck down the two carriers' plans for further route cooperation that would have also involved Oneworld alliance members British Airways and Iberia.

“This is a body blow for American, but not a lethal body blow. It means that Delta will have more access to Latin America than it did before, but American already has much of that in its back pocket,” independent aviation analyst Mike Boyd said.

Following its tie-up with Delta, LATAM will exit Oneworld and pursue route options with Delta and its partner Grupo Aeromexico, which belong to the rival SkyTeam alliance. It has not, however, decided whether to officially join SkyTeam.

Oneworld said LATAM had advised it would leave the alliance in “due course” in line with contractual requirements, without naming a specific date.

Airlines increasingly have bilateral code-share arrangements outside major alliances. Qantas Airways, a Oneworld member, said it would retain its code-share partnership with LATAM despite the Chilean carrier's departure from the alliance.

As a result of the deal, Delta will sell its stake in Brazil's largest airline Gol, a LATAM rival.

Delta does not expect regulatory obstacles for its tie-up with LATAM, where it will gain representation on the board of directors. The plan envisions growth for both carriers, which currently overlap on only one route, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said, adding “I think it's a great fit”.

Atlanta-based Delta expects the LATAM deal to be accretive to earnings per share over the next two years and add US$1 billion in revenue growth over five years, Bastian said.

Delta is using newly issued debt and available cash for the deal. It will also provide LATAM with an additional US$350 million to help it transition out of Oneworld and plug into Delta's network.

The two can start code-sharing before they receive government, regulatory and anti-trust approval for the larger tie-up, a process Bastian said he expects to take between 12 and 24 months.

Delta will also acquire four A350 aircraft from LATAM and assume LATAM's commitment to purchase another 10 A350s to be delivered between 2020 and 2025 for an undisclosed sum.

Apart from its stake in Grupo Aeromexico, Delta also has holdings in Air France KLM, China Eastern, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air Lines' parent company.

It has also been negotiating a 10 per cent stake in Alitalia as part of its strategy to boost its international presence through equity investments. That plan has not changed with the LATAM deal, which Delta started studying about three months ago after an approach by a third party, Bastian said.