Air France, Delta lead charge on Heathrow

Air France expects combined annual revenues of $8 billion from a joint venture it announced with Delta Air Lines yesterday, in the biggest shake-up in the transatlantic market in years. They plan to share routes linking major US cities and Europe starting with London's Heathrow in a challenge to British Airways Plc and Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways - which immediately promised to defend itself.

"We will fight tooth and nail to ensure we can remain the number two carrier at Heathrow," Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Steve Ridgway said at the launch of a new Heathrow check-in.

The Air France and Delta venture is the biggest deal yet to follow a transatlantic Open Skies pact reached by the US and the EU and set to take effect next March.

Other airlines are also expected to jockey for position at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. For decades, US access to Heathrow has been limited to two US and two UK airlines - currently American and United, along with BA and Virgin Atlantic.

By forming a joint venture, Air France and Delta will be able to share costs and revenues on transatlantic routes.

KLM, the Dutch arm of the Air France group, formed a similar deal a decade ago with Northwest Airlines and the new joint venture hopes to eventually include cooperation with those two carriers as well as Continental Airlines.