The high cost of jet fuel continues to take its toll. A quartet of allied airlines will be slashing seats this fall and winter on the transatlantic. Delta , Air France, KLM and Alitalia say they’ll be axing between seven and nine percent of their seating capacity across the pond. The reductions apply to routes between Europe and the United States and Canada.
Right now the joint venture among the four carriers represents a full 27 percent of all transatlantic seats. That means capacity cuts could have interesting implications for your travel plans.
The four airlines say they’ll cut seat capacity by cutting flight frequencies on select routes during the colder part of the year, when tourist travel traditionally wanes anyway. According to a prepared release, you should look for Delta, Air France, KLM and Alitalia to “introduce…seasonal flying to warm weather destinations.”
What might this reallocation of flying machines mean for you? One possibility is fewer low-fare transatlantic seats later in the year, and more deals to warmer locales.
If you’re planning to delay that long-awaited European vacation, the best bet might just be to take advantage of springtime savings. The deals are still out there.
How can these four airlines make reductions en masse? That – from the airlines’ point of view anyway – is the beauty of a joint venture.
“Our alliance allows us to make strategic decisions about our network and operate as a single airline on trans-Atlantic flights,” says Bruno Matheu, the executive vice president for marketing, revenue management and network for Air France/KLM. The JV helps the carriers better “respond to economic and external cost pressures.”
In terms of travel plans, this heads up gives you the opportunity to do the same.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: David)
