Northwest Airlines and Air France, SkyTeam partners who were rebuffed by the US Dept. of Transportation as part of the alliance's bid for transatlantic antitrust immunity last December (ATWOnline, Jan. 12), opted to move forward with a codeshare agreement announced yesterday.

NWA will place its code on AF's six weekly Paris Charles de Gaulle-Detroit flights and AF will do likewise on NWA's daily service. In the fall, the agreement will be expanded to include AF connections into Europe, Africa and the Middle East and NWA flights from Detroit throughout the US. Passengers will have access to each airline's loyalty programs and to the carriers' respective lounges at CDG and DTW.

Northwest was among the most vocal critics of the December DOT decision, calling it "arbitrary and capricious." The department did give tentative approval for blanket codesharing authority among NWA, AF, Delta Air Lines, KLM, Alitalia and CSA Czech Airlines, which it said would give carriers the opportunity "to achieve most of the benefits they are seeking" (ATWOnline, Dec. 23, 2005).

"This is the tangible result of our strategy of network development and alliances," Air France said of the deal.