wrote in message
...
There's no doubt. CO has already announced that it will join Skyteam
by the end of the second quarter.

Ah, well that's excellent news for me and other CO FFs.



On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 12:51:22 -0800, "PTRAVEL"
wrote:

Well, this is interesting (and, for a change, on topic for RTA). I
wonder
what will happen to the big alliances? KLM partners with Northwest
which,
in turn, partners with CO. As best as I can tell, Air France wasn't part
of
Star Alliance or OneWorld. The merger may give the CO/Northwest programs
similar breadth.


"Sjoerd" wrote in message
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3480173.stm

The planned merger between Air France and KLM has been given the
go-ahead
by
the European Commission.
Creating the world's largest airline, the two flag carriers first
announced
the coming together back in September.

The Commission has now approved the merger, but only after Air France
and
KLM agreed to surrender 94 take-off and landing slots per day to their
rivals.

In 2002-2003 the combined turnover of the two airlines was some 19.17bn
euros ($24.5bn; £13bn).


French dominance

"The outcome of this case shows that the long-awaited consolidation of
the
European airline sector can be done in full respect of the competition
rules," said EU competition commissioner Mario Monti.

He added: "The merger between KLM and Air France will provide air
passengers
with a greater choice of destinations and services, without having to
pay
a
higher price on those routes where their presence is the strongest."

Passengers are however unlikely to notice much difference as KLM and
Air
France will continue as separate operating companies with their own
brand
identities.

KLM and Air France will be placed under a new common holding company,
after
a share swap agreement that values the Dutch company at 784m euros and
leaves Air France as the dominant partner.