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Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have celebrated ten years of their joint venture agreement.

Executives of the two carriers, who met at KLM's world headquarters in Amstelveen in Holland, described the venture as 'the longest and most successful alliance in the airline industry'.

The partnership began as a codeshare agreement in 1990, which was enhanced following the signing of the Open Skies accord between the US and the Netherlands in 1992. The full joint venture agreement was signed in 1997.

'Now it has grown to 237 flights jointly operated by the two carriers between the US and Europe and has created $4bn [£1.96bn] annually in shared revenue,' said KLM's president and chief executive Peter Hartman.

The carriers claim that passengers have 'benefited greatly' as a result of the joint venture, with flight connections available in Amsterdam, Detroit and Minneapolis.

More than 5.5m customers are set to use the airlines' joint venture and codeshare flights this year, which operate to 260 cities in the US, Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East.

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