Since this regards rail passenger competition, not rails themselves, I’ll accept the moderator;s judgement.
Two days ago, the Jerusalem Post had an article on Delta and El Al becoming partners, codep-sharing, freequent-flyer mileage joining, schedule and connection coordination, etc. Not discussed, but I believe important (other readers can check me on this) is that Delta is largely Saudi-owned.
At one time, Amtrak and USAir had a partnership to facilitate use of BW (Baltimore-Washington) Airport. Does Amtrak have any sort of airline partnership now?
Completely and compellingly relevant, both in immediate potential application and in long-term planning.
I don’t have time to pull up the threads on European railroad participation in ‘alliances’ (including for example the Star Alliance) but it’s a done thing for railroads to participate in ‘sharing’ arrangements for traffic, ticketing, benefits, etc.
There are defined and meaningful benefits from doing this correctly. I might mention that Delta’s proposed list of cost-effective service enhancements was very carefully looked at by Amtrak personnel when it was published a couple of years ago…
In the 1990s Amtrak had a deal with United Air for a round trip, one way by rail and one way by air. I did that once, with someone dropping me off at the airport and then picking me up at the station on the way back. I don’t think they still have that deal.
BS. Delta is a publicly traded company and a member of the S&P500. Ownership is 26.4% Institutional, 30.5% Institutional Mutual Fund, 3.9% Mutual Fund, 0.4% Insider and 38.8% Other (individual stock owners).
Delta is a member of Skyteam, which includes Saudia, but Delta has almost no interaction with them, and doesn’t even mention them as a “partner” on their website.