Delta investing in airline partners is nothing new, as the airline owns stakes in Air France-KLM, China Eastern, LATAM, Virgin Atlantic, and more. In May 2025, Delta’s latest investment strategy was announced, but with a twist. This deal has now been finalized, and it has some major implications for Canadian aviation.
Three SkyTeam airline groups buy 25% stake in WestJet
Delta, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM, have purchased minority equity stakes in WestJet from Onex Partners (the upper middle market private equity platform of Onex, a Canadian investor and alternative asset manager). This is part of a plan for the airline groups to strengthen their partnership with the Canadian airline.
As it’s described, these investments build on each airline’s existing relationship with WestJet, to provide further benefits to customers in North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond.
This deal has now been finalized, and with this, we’ve seen Delta and Korean Air independently acquire stakes totaling 25% in WestJet. Delta invested $330 million for a 15% stake, while Korean Air invested $220 million for a 10% stake.
Then Delta sold and transfered a 2.3% stake in WestJet to its joint venture partner Air France-KLM, in exchange for $50 million. While Air France-KLM is acquiring the smallest stake here, it’s worth noting that the group’s CEO, Ben Smith, has been on WestJet’s board since 2021.
Delta, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM, have had codeshare partnerships with WestJet for years. The plan is for there to be an elevated partnership, with “more seamless travel experience for customers worldwide.”
Here’s how Delta CEO Ed Bastian describes this investment:
“Investing in a world-class partner like WestJet aligns our interests and ensures that we remain focused on providing a world-class global network and customer experience for travelers in the United States and Canada. Together, Delta and our airline partners are connecting the world and transforming the future of travel.”
Here’s how Korean Air CEO Walter Cho describes this:
“We are pleased to invest in WestJet as part of our continued commitment to enhancing transpacific connectivity. This strategic partnership will enhance our global network and create long-term value for customers through greater choice and convenience.”
Meanwhile here’s what WestJet Board Director Tawfiq Popatia had to say:
“Our new partners are widely regarded as among the best-performing and most innovative airlines in the world. This investment has created a terrific amount of value for Onex Partners and its investors to date, including through the unprecedented headwinds posed by the pandemic. We look forward to building on this track record for all of WestJet’s investors, both new and continuing.”
What’s the logic for this WestJet investment?
This partnership makes perfect sense in the context of how Delta does business. Delta takes a unique approach to its airline partnerships. If Delta wants to have a close partnership with another airline, it doesn’t just start a joint venture, but it also often acquires a stake in the airline, so that it’s fully invested.
Meanwhile Delta generally couldn’t care less about its non-joint venture and non-equity partners, which it almost views as a nuisance. With that in mind, WestJet has had an interesting arrangement with Delta for quite some time. Delta and WestJet had been pursuing a transborder joint venture, but it ended up being called off, due to too many concessions being required.
Nonetheless, Delta has clearly remained very interested in WestJet, and it has kept its “preferred” status with Delta, despite the lack of a joint venture. So I imagine that this has been in the works for quite some time, or else Delta wouldn’t have remained so interested (unrelated, but I’d similarly expect Delta to invest in EL AL at some point, given its current relationship with the airline).
In and of itself, a minority stake doesn’t give Delta control over WestJet. However, Delta is a successful airline, and as you’d expect, airlines that Delta invests in are generally pretty cooperative with the airline. The interesting twist here is that Korean Air and Air France-KLM have also acquired a stake in the airline. Therefore this seems to be a global strategy for Delta and two of its closest partner airline groups.
So, what’s the strategy here? When you look at the current reality of aviation in Canada, you have Air Canada as the major global airline, and it’s part of the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture. While WestJet has a respectable network, it has been heavily centered around Calgary (YYC), and the long haul network hasn’t necessarily been that big.
With Delta, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM, now investing in WestJet, I suspect we’re going to see material growth. WestJet recently placed a huge order with Boeing for more 787-9s and Boeing 737 MAX 10s.
While I think the airline will remain committed to Calgary, I have to imagine much of the growth will be at other airports, and we’ll see WestJet’s business model also focus a little more around connecting to the hubs of the other airlines. We’ll also see expanded long haul service.
WestJet already has a good amount of service to Delta hubs, and flies to Seoul Incheon and Paris Charles de Gaulle. However, don’t be surprised to see even more of a focus on this kind of flying, including out of additional Canadian airports. This seems like a win-win arrangement, which will increasingly allow WestJet to compete against Air Canada on a more global scale.
Will WestJet join SkyTeam, given that it’s getting an investment from three SkyTeam airline groups? It absolutely could happen, but I wouldn’t count on it. Keep in mind that Delta tends to have a pretty dominant position in these situations, and Delta doesn’t really care much about SkyTeam. For example, Delta owns a major stake in LATAM, and while LATAM left oneworld, there are no plans for the airline to join SkyTeam.
Anything could happen, but it’s interesting to see how Canadian airlines are now aligning — Star Alliance has Air Canada, WestJet is increasingly aligning with SkyTeam airlines, and Porter is increasing aligning with oneworld airlines.
Bottom line
Delta, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM, have just completed their investment in WestJet, acquiring a combined stake of 25%. This is in line with Delta’s strategy of investing in its most important partners, and it means that we’ll likely see the airlines work even more closely together. What’s interesting here is how this was a coordinated effort, with Korean Air and Air France-KLM.
I feel like there’s a lot of upside here for WestJet, so I look forward to seeing how this evolves in the coming years.
What do you make of this WestJet investment?
