Joint venture (JV)

An antitrust-immunised partnership in which airlines co-price and revenue-share a corridor as if they were one carrier — Delta–Air France–KLM–Virgin across the Atlantic, United–Lufthansa Group, American–British Airways, United–ANA and American–JAL across the Pacific. For buyers, a JV means the operating carrier matters less than the corridor: contract fares typically apply across all partners’ metal, which multiplies the schedules one negotiated price can use.