New Star Alliance Latin America hookup?

In the wake of Delta's surprise hook-up with South America's largest airline, LATAM, pulling it out of the OneWorld alliance all the remaining players have been busy trying to line up new partners.

Now Azul, Brazil's #2 airline, which shares codeshares with United and TAP Portugal, and a majority owner with TAP, has acknowledged that it has been talking to those two and to Panama's Copa Airlines and Colombia's Avianca about closer ties that could create a broad network of connections with the U.S. and Europe.

All four of the other airlines are Star Alliance members, while Azul has stayed out of any alliance commitment. Avianca, Copa and United have already been working on setting up a joint venture that would allow them to operate as a single entity. 

Other moves in the wake of Delta's investment and alignment with LATAM include discussions between American Airlines and Brazil's GOL over closer ties and joint operations; the departure of LATAM from OneWorld has created a large gap in American's Latin America line-up.