Oneworld CEOs Mark Alliance's Breakthrough Year
Chief Executives from oneworld's member airlines gathered for their first Governing Board of what is turning out to be a breakthrough year for the alliance.
- Significant progress in expanding co-operation with Japan Airlines
- Russia and India's leading airlines preparing to join
- Transatlantic and transpacific anti-trust approvals on track
Chief Executives from oneworld's member airlines gathered for their first Governing Board of what is turning out to be a breakthrough year for the alliance.
It was the first time they had convened since:
- Japan Airlines reaffirmed its membership of the grouping in February and then filed for anti-trust immunity with American Airlines to deepen their co-operation across the Pacific – and the first oneworld Governing Board meeting attended by JAL's new President Masaru Onishi since his appointment on 1 February.
- India's leading carrier and only five-star airline Kingfisher Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding as its first step towards joining oneworld.
- The US Department of Transportation gave tentative approval in February to the application by oneworld's transatlantic partners American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Royal Jordanian for anti-trust immunity across the Atlantic – and the European Commission began market testing of proposed remedies in a key step towards approval of the proposed transatlantic joint business agreement between American, BA and Iberia.
It is also the first oneworld Governing Board meeting in a year that will see Russia's leading domestic carrier S7 Airlines join the alliance.
oneworld Governing Board Chairman Gerard Arpey, Chairman and Chief Executive of American Airlines, said: "This time 12 months ago, oneworld was celebrating its 10th anniversary. Since then, oneworld has taken a series of significant steps towards establishing itself firmly as the world's premier global airline alliance.
"We added one more leading airline, Mexicana, in November and look forward to welcoming on board Russia's S7 Airlines later this year with India's Kingfisher Airlines to follow next year.
"Not only does our line-up of members include the finest airline brands in the world, our collection of networks delivers the best coverage in the markets that matter most throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. We believe our focus on the quality, rather than quantity, of members has been the right approach."
"Meantime, we have been able to welcome Japan Airlines' reaffirmation to oneworld. It is very good to have Masaru Onishi among us. We respect JAL's alliance review was an important decision for the airline and the government of Japan. We believe they made the right choice for JAL's many stakeholders, for Japan's national interests and for consumers."
Mr Arpey noted that this year had seen the biggest progress in oneworld's history in deepening links between its member airlines: "We expect our applications for anti-trust immunity across the Atlantic and Pacific to be approved soon, levelling the alliance playing field between North America and Europe and ensuring that alliance competition remains robust between North America and Asia. Both initiatives will enable oneworld to offer our customers even better services and benefits."
oneworld had taken significant strides in many other areas too, completing its biggest yet airport co-location project, bringing all on-line airlines from across all five passenger terminals into just two at its biggest European hub, London Heathrow, and increasing its lead in offering the widest range of alliance consumer fares.
Mr Arpey concluded: "For us, the key aim of all this activity is simple – to establish oneworld further firmly as the premier airline alliance, delivering to both our customers and member airlines services and benefits beyond the reach of any individual airline and making it easier and more rewarding to reach more places more easily on a quality network of the best brands in the business."
Significant progress in expanding co-operation with Japan Airlines
Considerable progress has been made in expanding co-operation between JAL and its oneworld partners since the airline reaffirmed its membership of the alliance, following a review of its alliance strategy conducted as part of its overall restructuring programme, on 9 February this year.
Three days later it applied with American Airlines to the US Department for Transportation for anti-trust immunity for a joint business agreement between North America and Asia, and notified Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism of their transaction. By working more closely together, the two airlines will be able to provide more seamless links for connecting passengers, expand customer choice by offering new routes and supporting existing routes that would not be economically viable for the airlines individually. This will enable them to improve efficiency, find opportunities to lower costs and have greater ability to invest in products, services and fleets.
American Airlines has also taken steps to serve Tokyo Haneda, which is JAL's main domestic hub.
