Yes, as I have said I cannot see a break up from Northwest occurring, as it would be too damaging to KLM to lose such an intensive partner. No one would give KLM such an enveloped alliance as Northwest currently does and so they are highly dependent on them. If they went into Oneworld they would have to forge a partnership with American, but this would only be limited with a huge loss of capacity. If you like, KLM needs Northwest more than Northwest needs KLM and so to head towards SkyTeam would guarantee that their relationship continues.
KLM wants a European partner and I think that from an operations point of view it would be a better fit in to Oneworld with not just Trans-Atlantic operations and European but also worldwide operations, although certain issues over power in my opinion keeps them separate. Firstly, KLM regards itself as a major European airline and so is quite demanding when it comes to alliances. If they joined Oneworld they would always be in the shadow of British Airways and American, not the position they would like considering what they possibly could get out of an alliance with Air France and SkyTeam in terms of being a major player. British Airways also would not like to see its lucrative Trans-Atlantic market going to Amsterdam. While in the long term it would seem a good deal to see transfer passengers going to Amsterdam due to constraints at Heathrow, in the short term British Airways would lose out to Amsterdam which has expansion capabilities. You only have to look at Aer Lingus, Iberia or Finnair to see they operate niches with no threat to Heathrow, KLM is a different story being too close to Heathrow. In the end it would be in British Airways’ best interests to see KLM head towards SkyTeam as Air France would not give up expansion at CDG for Amsterdam, therefore weakening KLM.
Sign In
