=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/09/17/f= inancial0904EDT0027.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, September 17, 2002 (AP) Air France, KLM in talks over Dutch carrier joining SkyTeam (09-17) 06:04 PDT PARIS (AP) -- Air France said Tuesday it was in talks with KLM about the Dutch carrier joining the SkyTeam Alliance of airlines but denied the French carrier had reached an agreement to take a stake in its Amsterdam-based rival. The French financial daily Les Echos reported in its online edition Tuesday that the two airlines were close to a deal that would involve Air France taking an equity stake in the Dutch airline. It said the talks with KLM concerned wide-ranging collaboration, to be underpinned by the French group taking a stake in its Amsterdam-based rival. "Air France formally denies that any agreement to acquire an interest in KLM has been concluded between the two airlines," the French airline said in a statement. The statement said that current discussions with KLM "only concern the Dutch airline joining SkyTeam." Air France said the two airlines had been engaged in talks for months ov= er KLM joining the SkyTeam alliance, a code-sharing arrangement that includes Aeromexico, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta and Korean Air. The talks "have however been given new impetus," the statement said, by the recent announcement of a commercial linkup between U.S. airlines Continental, Northwest and Delta, which is Air France's SkyTeam partner in the United States. If SkyTeam is expanded to embrace Delta's two U.S. partners, it would ma= ke SkyTeam the world's largest airline alliance. Air France said in August it foresees the creation of two or three major clusters of airlines that would be based around the main European Union carriers, with commitments in worldwide alliances alongside American, Asian and African partners. The French government currently holds a 56 percent stake in the national carrier. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP