Italy’s flagship carrier Alitalia has united with Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines in their trans-Atlantic joint venture that will result in an increase of flights between main cities in the U.S. and Europe, the airlines announced Monday.

The joint venture was launched in April 2009 and created a coordinated network for customers traveling across the Atlantic, allowing the member airlines to share revenues and costs.

With Alitalia’s addition, the project represents about 26% of the entire trans-Atlantic capacity, with annual revenues estimated at about $10 billion, according to Delta.

The affiliate airlines will provide close to 250 daily trans-Atlantic flights, including 20 flights daily from Rome and Milan to five cities in the U.S.

Rome joins Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York JFK and Paris Charles de Gaulle as the cores of the joint venture.

Source:USA TODAY