Timeline of Delta-Virgin deal
December 2012: Delta announces a deal to buy a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways for $360 million, and for the two carriers to form a joint venture for flights between North America and the United Kingdom.
June 2013: Delta and Virgin Atlantic get antitrust clearance from the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission for the cross-border investment portion of the deal. Delta then closes the $360 million acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic.
July 2013: A code-share marketing partnership takes effect, allowing Delta travelers to book flights that connect to Virgin Atlantic routes in the United Kingdom.
September 23, 2013: Delta and Virgin Atlantic get approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation for their joint venture, allowing them to coordinate trans-Atlantic schedules and prices and to share revenue.
October 5, 2013: Flights on the two carriers' new coordinated New York-London Heathrow schedule go up for sale.
March 30, 2014: Flights on the coordinated New York-London Heathrow schedule begin operation.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines on Monday received final approval for a deal with British carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways aimed at bolstering its competitive position in the crucial trans-Atlantic market for flights across the pond.
The approval is the final piece needed for the full rollout of a partnership launched with Delta’s $360 million purchase of a 49 percent stake of Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic.
The federal antitrust immunity granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation allows Delta and Virgin Atlantic to form a joint venture to coordinate schedules and prices and to share revenue on flights between North America and the United Kingdom. The DOT said it had concluded that, overall, the alliance and joint venture will be pro-competitive and are likely to generate substantial benefits for the traveling public.
For Delta, the most important piece of the deal is that it gains more access to London Heathrow Airport and gains a bigger presence on the most important business route in the world. That’s the New York to London route, a key passage for the banking industry and other business travel, which is currently dominated by a British Airways-American Airlines partnership.
Delta on Monday unveiled a new schedule for flights on Delta and Virgin Atlantic from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport — featuring flights every half hour during the peak early evening period and then hourly until 10:30 p.m.
