The Conversation OUR MAN IN PARIS
Arguably, US airline Delta is the modern benchmark for how airline mergers and joint ventures should proceed. Gillian Upton speaks to Perry Cantarutti, the man charged with making it work
PERRY Cantarutti considers himself a lucky fellow. He filled the newly created role at Delta Airlines of senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), a role that reflects the importance of the region as the airline expands. Not only that, the job is based in Paris and that’s where this San Franciscan has been living for the last year or so, soaking up all the city has to offer. One of the first things he did when arriving on French soil was to sign up for a two-week, total immersion language course in French. “I used to huddle in the corner with the other American and speak English,” he readily admits although subsequently, Parisians ‘accommodate’ his pidgin French, he says, appreciating his efforts to learn their language. Asked whether he’s changed since his sojourn
in the French capital and his minder immediately blurts out: “Luxembourg Gardens.” He explains: “I run now. I want to prove to everybody that I
can eat all this wonderful food and not put on weight.” There have been other lifestyle changes too. Cantarutti jokes that he leaves the office by 4pm on a Friday, having lost some of the US work ethic, and that he’s getting used to the virtual closure of the city during August. Moreover, he’s keen to enjoy Paris and says
that, in any case, the city is contagious. The jury’s out, however, as to whether he’s as slim as he was when he stepped off the plane from Atlanta – leaving the job of VP reservation sales with Delta – just over a year ago. These lifestyle changes perfectly point to the issues that have befallen airlines attempting to merge with foreign carriers. Issues such as fleet planning have been easy to sort by comparison with these more complex, deep-rooted cross cultural differences. Joint ventures (JVs), mergers and closer co-operation in the form of alliances are a fact of commercial life for the airline industry today, the
latest get-together being British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines. Delta is an old hand at this cross-cultural game.
It joined the SkyTeam global alliance in 2000, then it merged with Northwest in 2008 and that in turn helped forge a three-way transatlantic JV with Air France-KLM and Alitalia, the largest there is. This latter move is structured around seven different hubs to offer more frequencies, competitive fares and harmonised services. “Alliances are as close to a JV and merger as
you can get. The Delta/Air France-KLM alliance is over a decade old so we have a know-how of how to make things work,” says Cantarutti. “It takes lots of infrastructure changes,” he explains. “The hardware is one incredible challenge but the thing that takes the most time is synthesising all the cultural challenges.” As one clear example of this, Cantarutti recalls
the “different time horizons” between Delta and Air France-KLM. “Delta will make things change
24 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
© ATOUT FRANCE / Patrice Thebault
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