SkyTeam was founded in June 2000 representatives of Delta Air Lines, Aeroméxico, Air France, and Korean Air held a meeting in New York to form a third airline alliance. These became the four founding carriers of SkyTeam. It became one of the world's three major airline alliances: the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld.

Upon its formation, SkyTeam started to offer its customers a total of 6,402 daily flights to 451 destinations in 98 countries. In September 2000, the alliance established a cargo alliance, SkyTeam Cargo. The group's inaugural members were Aeromexpress, Air France Cargo, Delta Air Logistics and Korean Air Cargo.

Today, the SkyTeam network operates nearly 15,445+ daily flights to 1,036+ destinations in 170+ countries. The alliance and its members have 750 lounges worldwide.

Its annual passenger count is 630 million (2019), the second largest of the three major alliances. As of January 2019, SkyTeam consists of 19 carriers from five continents and operates with the slogan "Caring more about you".

The emblem features half a circle with an elaborate curvy pattern inside. The lettering “SkyTeam” can be seen to the right.

SkyTeam Cargo partners ten carriers and all of them are SkyTeam members. Its centralized management team, SkyTeam Central, is based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.