Skyteam Airline Alliance

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SkyTeam is the second largest airline alliance in the world after Star Alliance. It was established in 2000 by Aeromexico (Mexico), Air France (France), Delta Air Lines (USA) and Korean Air (South Korea). Simultaneously its cargo partner called SkyTeam Cargo started operations. By 2012 their total number reached 15 carriers from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. The headquarters or SkyTeam are in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It serves over 14 000 daily flights to over 900 airports in more than 170 countries. That is about 19% of world air traffic. The slogan of SkyTeam is "Caring more about you". It has only been possible to form alliances in the airline sector since the 1990s. Before then, there were too many legal obstacles and cooperation was limited to interlining: selling joint tickets and linking different booking systems. The founders of SkyTeam – Air France, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and Aeroméxico – wanted to create a global system of cooperation which has genuine benefits for the client and for themselves. Reason for the appearance of aviation alliances is air transport regulation at the national level. So commercial air travel between Europe and the United States are governed by the Open Skies Treaty and only the airlines who are members of the Treaty can use that route. The reasons for creating strategic alliances can be classified into: • Growth Strategies and entering new markets, • Obtain new technology and/or best quality or cheapest cost and • Achieve or ensure competitive advantage. To some degree alliance formation can be viewed as an inevitable result of the regulatory framework within which the international airline industry operates. Regulatory and legal restrictions often prevents the full ownership of airlines by foreign companies and consequently alliances have been perceived as the only viable market entry mechanism at
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