Delta Air Lines and Korean Air will launch a new joint venture partnership that will offer customers world-class travel benefits across one of the most comprehensive route networks in the trans-Pacific market.
The joint venture has now been approved by regulatory authorities in the US and Korea, including the US department of transportation and the Korean ministry of land, infrastructure and transport.
“This is an exciting time for customers of both Delta and Korean Air as we launch our trans-Pacific partnership,” said Delta chief executive, Ed Bastian.
“Our expanded partnership means a host of new destinations and travel options across Asia and North America, with seamless connectivity, world-class reliability and the industry’s best customer service.”
The expansive combined network formed by this partnership gives Delta and Korean Air’s shared customers seamless access to more than 290 destinations in the Americas and more than 80 in Asia.
The airlines will work closely together to bring customers the full benefits of the partnership, including joint growth in the trans-Pacific market, optimised schedules, a more seamless customer experience, improved loyalty program benefits, integrated IT systems, joint sales and marketing activities, and co-location at key hubs.
Beginning soon, Delta and Korean Air will implement full reciprocal codeshare deal on each other’s networks and work together to provide the best travel experience for customers between US and Asia.
A the same time, the carriers will begin offering improved reciprocal loyalty program benefits, including providing customers of both airlines the ability to earn more miles on Korean Air’s SkyPass and Delta’s SkyMiles program.
The new joint venture builds on nearly two decades of close partnership between Korean Air and Delta; both were founding members of the SkyTeam alliance and have offered customers an expanded codeshare network since 2016.
Earlier this year, Delta and Korean Air co-located into the new, state-of-the-art Terminal 2 at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, substantially reducing connecting times for customers.
One of the world’s largest airports, Incheon has among the fastest connection times in the region.
Delta anticipates that Seoul Incheon will continue to grow as a major Asia gateway for Delta and Korean Air.