United, Avianca and Copa's South American deal delayed as they mull fourth partner

A proposed joint venture between United, Colombia's Avianca Holdings and Panama's Copa Holdings has been delayed due to the potential inclusion of Brazil's Azul as a fourth partner, as well as problems at Avianca, the CEOs of two of the companies said. The three airlines had said in November 2018 they would file for US antitrust approval "in the near term" in order to coordinate routes between South America and the United States, a bold move to expand their market share in the region. At the time, the carriers said they aimed to implement the agreements in 2020. United said last week it wants to include Azul, in which it already has a stake, in the planned tie-up with Copa and Avianca, the latest play by a US carrier for a region expected to have significant air-travel growth in coming decades. But almost a year after United, Copa and Avianca announced the preliminary joint venture plan, they have yet to file any paperwork with the US DoT, seeking antitrust immunity. Now, the regulatory process may begin as late as next year. Copa's CEO, Pedro Heilbron, said the group expects to file in early 2020, while Avianca's CEO, Anko van der Werff, said it would file between late 2019 and early 2020. Both spoke to Reuters in separate interviews on Monday on the sidelines of the ALTA Airline Leaders' Forum in Brasilia. Both said there was a delay on the original timeline. The potential inclusion of Azul, which may be in the early stages of negotiations, has been one reason for the timetable slipping. "Quite frankly, really completely open and honest, we haven't had many discussions," van der Werff said. "I personally haven't had even one real, serious discussion at the CEO level about when to include [Azul] and what to include."<br/>