WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Japan Airlines Corp.'s potential partnership with Delta Air Lines Inc. will not automatically open new vistas for the Japanese carrier, according to former U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.
He made the comment as Delta tries to woo JAL into its alliance and American Airlines Inc. seeks to keep it from defecting ahead of the Japan-U.S. open skies agreement taking effect next year.
"Open skies does not mean that antitrust immunity is automatic," Mineta said in his office in Washington. "There is a whole bunch of criteria that you have to meet."