Delta Air Lines and South American carrier Latam have won clearance for a planned joint venture to take off.
The US Department of Transportation granted final approval on Friday to allow for the creation of an “unparalleled” network connecting the Americas.
The partnership was first announced in 2019 to collaborate on routes connecting the US and Canada with destinations across Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
The collaboration is designed to improve access to more than 300 destinations, adding to existing codeshare routes and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits already in place.
“More details on the benefits of the partnership will be shared in the coming months,” a joint statement said.
The green light from the US DoT came weeks after Latam Group started the final phase of reorganisation under US Charter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The first codeshare services between Virgin Atlantic partner Delta and Latam were introduced in 2020 and expanded last year to cover to 20 US-South America routes plus connections to a broad range of domestic and regional destinations from hubs in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Santiago, Lima, Bogota and Sao Paulo.
Delta chief executive Ed Bastian said: “Delta’s partnership with Latam will help grow the market between North and South America and provide significant and much-needed benefits for customers, and we applaud the DoT for this final approval.
“Now, we’ll get to work with Latam to transform the travel experience for our collective customers and create new opportunities for our employees.”
Latam Airlines Group chief executive Roberto Alvo said: “The approval by the DoT will give rise to the start of work with Delta to deliver more and better benefits to Latam and Delta customers, such as faster connections, and the joint accrual of miles in frequent flyer programmes, among many others.
“I am sure that, over time, we will be able to offer the best connections, while incorporating a sustainable view of the future.”