US court halts DOT order to unwind Delta-Aeroméxico joint venture

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a US Department of Transportation order requiring Delta Air Lines and Aeroméxico to unwind their long-running transborder joint venture, giving both carriers a reprieve as they challenge the DOT order. 

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted an emergency stay, allowing the airlines to continue operating under their partnership while the court reviews the case. The stay pauses the DOT’s directive, issued in September 2025, that would have forced the carriers to dismantle the alliance by January 1, 2026. 

Delta and Aeroméxico jointly petitioned for the stay in late October 2025, arguing that unwinding the venture on the government’s accelerated timeline would impose significant financial and operational harm. The carriers told the court the order would disrupt dozens of routes, reduce connectivity in the US-Mexico market and create costs that they could not recover even if they later prevailed. 

The DOT moved to revoke the antitrust immunity first granted in 2016, citing what it described as anticompetitive effects in the transborder aviation market. Regulators pointed to longstanding slot and access constraints at Mexico City International Airport, which they said disadvantaged rival airlines and gave the Delta-Aeroméxico partnership an unfair advantage. 

The airlines rejected those claims, telling the court they operate within a slot-controlled environment overseen by Mexican authorities, and argued that the DOT’s decision ignored broader market changes since the pandemic. They also said the department underestimated the alliance’s consumer benefits, including expanded schedules, coordinated connections and reciprocal loyalty perks. 

The Eleventh Circuit’s decision, issued on November 12, 2025, does not resolve the underlying dispute between the airlines and the DOT. Instead, it preserves the partnership’s current structure until the court completes a full review of the case. That process could take months, and the timing of a final ruling remains uncertain. 

Delta has said the alliance strengthens its position in key leisure and business markets, while Aeroméxico relies heavily on the partnership to support its US network and to maintain competitive parity with carriers that operate joint ventures across the Atlantic and Pacific. 

The DOT can respond to the petition in the coming weeks, and the court may request additional filings from both sides. While the stay represents an early win for the carriers, the future of the joint venture will ultimately depend on the outcome of the broader legal challenge. The post US court halts DOT order to unwind Delta-Aeroméxico joint venture appeared first on AeroTime.

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