CADE clears amendment agreement between Delta and Latam

The Office of the Superintendent General of CADE (SG/Cade) cleared amendment to the joint venture between Delta and Latam to expand their geographic and product reach. 

The original agreement, cleared in 2020, is a long-term contractual arrangement to connect Delta's supplementary airline routes in the United States and Canada, and Latam's in South America. This agreement allows the airlines to commercialise integrated air transport services as a single market player. Therefore, the amendment cleared by the authority includes Ecuador as one of the countries of the joint venture, and air cargo transport within the scope of the contract. 

Latam is a Chilean public company with subsidiaries in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru, in the field of air passenger and air cargo markets. Delta is an American public company that also operates in the air passenger and cargo markets. In Brazil, the company only operates international routes between Brazil and the USA. 

The SG concluded that there was rivalry and idle capacity in the relevant market for air cargo transport on the US-Brazil route. It also stated that the unilateral exercise of market power by the applicants is unlikely and cleared the amendment without restrictions.

The decision of the Office of the Superintendent General of CADE is regarded final, and the deal fully approved, if the authority's Tribunal does not request the case for adjudication or a third party does not appeal to the ruling within 15 days of its announcement.