Competitors and codeshare partners Air France and Air Tahiti Nui have filed at the Transportation Department for approval of a joint venture that would enable them to join forces and fix prices on the transatlantic portion of Paris-U.S.-Papeete itineraries.
The carriers limited their joint venture agreement and request for antitrust immunity to the transatlantic portion of the market, saying they would remain codeshare partners, but not joint venture partners, on the Los Angeles-Papeete segment. In addition, the two carriers would share codes, on an arm's-length basis, on European routes feeding the Paris hub.
On the transatlantic portion of Europe-U.S.-Tahiti itineraries, however, the arrangement will enable the carriers to take the additional step of coordinating schedules and capacity, fixing prices and pooling revenue.
According to the carriers, Air Tahiti's existing codeshare agreement with American Airlines would remain in place, feeding Tahiti-bound traffic to Los Angeles from 19 U.S. points on American's system.
The filing also emphasized that Air Tahiti was not joining SkyTeam nor the existing transatlantic joint venture between SkyTeam partners Air France/KLM, Delta and Alitalia.
Air France did note, however, that it would share its portion of the proposed Air Tahiti joint venture revenue with its existing joint venture partners rather than "carve out" Paris-Los Angeles from the existing joint venture.
Los Angeles is Air Tahiti's only U.S. gateway, and it also serves as an intermediate point on its flights to Paris. Air France flies the same itinerary, and because of its joint venture with Delta, it also feeds transatlantic traffic into Los Angeles via such U.S. points as New York, Atlanta and Cincinnati.
Because the two joint ventures overlap, Air France said its existing joint venture partners need antitrust immunity to coordinate with the proposed new joint venture on pricing and scheduling.
The filing marks the second time in recent weeks that a member of the Air France/KLM-Delta-Alitalia joint venture has filed to form an overlapping joint venture with an independent carrier. Earlier, Delta filed for antitrust immunity to establish a joint venture on U.S-U.K. routes with Virgin Atlantic.