same year, Middle East Airlines agreed to join the alliance. Member airlines Delta and Air France–KLM appointed Goldman Sachs in late to advise them on a potential bid for Sir Richard Branson's 51% stake in Virgin Atlantic, which could lead to the airline joining SkyTeam and would sharply increase the alliance's footprint in London. Rivals Star Alliance and Etihad Airlines were also investigating competing options with regard to Virgin Atlantic. China Eastern Airlines joined the alliance on 21 June 2011, along with its subsidiary, Shanghai Airlines, to become the 14th member. Later in 2011, on 28 September, China Airlines joined the alliance. In the same year, Xiamen Airlines committed to be incorporated as a full member by the end of 2012, with their entry supported by China Southern Airlines. On 29 May 2012, Saudi Arabian Airlines became both the first carrier in joining the alliance in 2012 and the first one based in the Middle East, which brought the total members to 16. The same day of its incorporation, Saudi Arabian Airlines was renamed to Saudia. Middle East Airlines became the 17th member of the alliance a month later, following its incorporation on 28 June 2012. On 29 August 2012, Aerolíneas Argentinas became the first South American and the second Latin American airline in joining the alliance, bringing the number of members to 18. Following its incorporation on 21 November 2012, Xiamen Airlines became the fourth member in Mainland China, with the overall number of members in the alliance rising to 19. In late , the Russian newspaper Kommersant published an article that mentions that Aeroflot was considering leaving the alliance over disagreements with Delta on the pricing on some routes to North America. The report also mentioned that the Russian carrier was considering joining Star Alliance. In order to assess the benefits of the SkyTeam membership, a study was carried out in ; following it, the Aeroflot board reaffirmed its position within the alliance in . Garuda Indonesia became the 20th member of the alliance on 5 March 2014. Garuda initially expected to gain SkyTeam membership in 2012, but the joining process took months to be completed. 2015–present In November 2018, China Southern Airlines announced that it would leave the alliance effective . On 4 November 2019, the International Airlines Group announced it was buying Air Europa and that the airline would leave SkyTeam. The COVID-19 pandemic and antitrust