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Delta Air Lines' Shanghai hub plans: replicating the Amsterdam-KLM relationship will be difficult

Analysis

At the same time as Delta Air Lines and its pilots take the lead in anti-Gulf rhetoric and ask for traffic rights to be withdrawn, brief comments by CEO Richard Anderson suggest Delta is considering establishing a hub in Shanghai.

A Shanghai presence would be a logical move for Delta, but establishing a hub will require the blessing of local partner China Eastern.

This Shanghai-China Eastern potential visually has similar building blocks to Delta's existing Amsterdam-KLM partnership; but the same outcome is far from guaranteed.

In the long term, Delta will need China Eastern more than China Eastern will need Delta. In this case the negotiating power does not rest in Atlanta. And, although both are SkyTeam members, China Eastern - and the other Chinese majors - have demonstrated considerable pragmatism in their partnership relations. Star Alliance's Air China for example holds a substantial minority share in oneworld's Cathay Pacific.

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