Delta Air Lines acquired a 20% stake in LATAM Airlines Group in September for a little under $2 billion. The acquisition would lead to the eventual end for another Delta partnership.
Reuters reported that “Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA said Delta Air lines Inc has sold more than 32.9 million shares it held in the company.”
The sale comes just months after Delta announced it would be leaving their stake with Gol.
Delta is selling their stake since Gol is a competitor of LATAM. By acquiring 20% of LATAM, Delta will be gaining a bigger reach in Latin America (LATAM is the largest carrier in the region), while also hurting a competitor.
LATAM will be leaving OneWorld of which American Airlines is a member. NASDAQ wrote that “American Airlines confirmed in October it was negotiating a possible partnership with GOL.”
As someone who still has a decent stash of AAdvantage miles, I’d prefer to see LATAM remain a member of OneWorld. SkyTeam will definitely be much more appealing when LATAM joins.
Neh- I figured with LATAM leaving Oneworld, it would be a logical next step to join Delta in SkyTeam. Maybe not…
With Aerolineas Argentinas in Skyteam why would you think that Latam would be joining that alliance? I doubt they will. Latam is Delta’s Beeotch so there’s no need for an alliance. Latam is very unfaithful and Delta ruthless who doesn’t care about any alliance, only what Delta wants, so Latam won’t be joining Skyteam nor have they mentioned any intention of doing so.