The Atlantic Excellence was a trans-Atlantic airline alliance between Swissair, Delta Air Lines, Sabena and Austrian Airlines that was formed in 1997 and disbanded in 1999/2000. The dissolution of the code share agreement came soon after an announcement by Delta Air Lines that it was starting cooperative arrangements with Air France which led into the formation of the Skyteam alliance. SAirGroup had held negotiations with American Airlines about extending their cooperative arrangements, with both Swissair and Sabena intending to commence code-share services on North Atlantic routes with American Airlines which led into Qualiflyer.