yogi, interesting commentary that you pointed us to. I've never had a great deal of time for the particular writer of the article in the past, but he does make some interesting points.
It is obvious that VA need to feed traffic to elsewhere in the US, and DL fits the bill.
But for DL I guess it does give them the ability to compete head on with QF/AA. Double daily's (DL and VA) into SYD, and regular direct flights LAX-BNE and from Sep LAX-MEL, brings them close to matching the offering of QF/AA.
After this, somehow methinks we won't see DJ/VA in star alliance anytime soon. But if skyteam were to get DJ/VA into their fold, and if AF were to allow MH to join, they could easily (from an Oceania perspective) become a sound and realistic alternative to * or oneworld.