Late Monday night, the U.S. Transportation Department ordered that Delta and Aeromexico need to unwind their joint venture by January 1, 2026.
This joint partnership currently allows the two airlines to coordinate pricing, schedules, and capacity for flights between the U.S. and Mexico. In a filing, the Transportation Department said: “This action is necessary because of ongoing anticompetitive effects in U.S.-Mexico City markets that provide an unfair advantage to Delta and Aeromexico as two predominant competitors and create unacceptable actual and potential harm for stakeholders, including consumers.”
While this order doesn’t affect Delta’s 20% stake in Aeromexico and it won’t affect mileage earning/redemption opportunities available through the SkyTeam alliance — likely, it will just make it harder to plan connecting flights between the two airlines (although Delta claims the joint venture generated $310 million for the U.S. economy).
I wouldn’t be surprised if Delta takes steps to appeal the order and my guess is that it might be tied to ongoing trade negotiations with Mexico.
