Delta Air Lines \u00a0and Korean Air Lines \u00a0will acquire an aggregate 25% stake in Canada’s WestJet Airlines for $550 million from private equity firm Onex Corp , the U.S. carrier said, \u00a0on Friday.
\nThe deal, where Delta will invest $330 million for a 15% stake in WestJet and Korean Air will invest $220 million for a 10% interest, deepens the airlines’ presence in the North American market.
\nAirlines have engaged in consolidation through mergers, acquisitions and partnerships focused on frequent-flyer programs and rewards to dominate high-volume routes and strengthen their position against rivals.
\nThis has led to higher fares, reduced competition and consumer concerns about anti-competitive practices, prompting antitrust regulators to scrutinise industry impacts.
\nDelta also plans to sell and transfer a 2.3% stake in the Canadian airline to its joint venture partner, Air France-KLM, for $50 million.
\nWestJet, which has had various partnerships with Delta and Korean Air since 2011, will continue to be owned and controlled by Onex, Delta said.
\n“Delta, Korean and Air France-KLM are among the world’s most prominent and best-managed airlines. Onex is delighted to welcome them as shareholders in WestJet,” Onex Partners Co-Head Tawfiq Popatia said.
\nDelta and Korean Air’s agreements with WestJet come at a time when Canadian airlines are seeing a decline in U.S.-bound bookings following President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
\nAir Canada , the country’s largest airline and a WestJet rival, lowered its annual adjusted core profit forecast on Thursday due to the waning trans-border travel, weakening local currency and trade tensions with the U.S.
\nDelta’s shares were trading about 1% higher before the bell.- Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delta Air Lines \u00a0and Korean Air Lines \u00a0will acquire an aggregate 25% stake in Canada’s WestJet Airlines for $550 million from private equity firm Onex Corp , the U.S. carrier said, \u00a0on Friday. The deal, where Delta will invest $330 million for a 15% stake in WestJet and Korean Air will invest $220 million for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[96,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-featured-en"],"yoast_head":"\n