Oneworld

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oneworld

Official Launch Date		February 1, 1999
Members	Full	10
	Non-Voting	0
	Pending	0
Destinations Served	Airports	700
Destinations Served	Countries	150
Annual Passengers (M)		315
Fleet Size		2453
Management		John McCulloch (Managing Partner)
Website		oneworld.com

For other uses, see Oneworld (disambiguation).

oneworld is a worldwide airline alliance. As of 2007 it is the third largest after Star Alliance and SkyTeam. Member airlines and their affiliates enjoy a high degree of co-operation in scheduling, ticketing, code sharing, flight transfer operations, frequent flyer benefits, shared airport lounges, reducing costs, and sharing best practices.

oneworld was the first airline alliance to establish a central management team. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the oneworld Management Company has a Managing Partner, reporting to the alliance board, which is made up of the Chief Executives of each of the member airlines. Chairman of the board is held on a rotating basis. Reporting to the Managing Partner are function heads for Commercial, IT, Public Relations, Airports and Customer Service, and a Global Project Director.

Member airlines also develop common specifications as widely as possible across their engineering and maintenance activities, aligning their policies and procedures and work together to develop and support solutions that can be applied throughout the airline industry. Costs are also reduced through bulk buying and by sharing parts between one another.

The alliance reaches roughly 700 destinations in nearly 150 countries around the world, operating over 9000 daily flights. It is the only alliance that has a full network in Australia (Qantas) and the only alliance with a member based in South America (LAN). In 2004 oneworld carried over 230 million passengers on a combined fleet of some 2000 aircraft. It is the only airline alliance whose members earned a combined profit in the past year - US$1.5 billion net, against combined losses by Star Alliance carriers totalling more than US$2.2 billion and an overall deficit by SkyTeam members in excess of US$7 billion.

The alliance expanded in 2007 as Japan Airlines, Royal Jordanian and Malév joined as member airlines on 1 April 2007, while LAN Ecuador and LAN Argentina joined as affiliates, also from 1 April 2007. Dragonair will join as an affiliate during 2007. The new members and affiliates has increased the number of destinations to roughly 700 destinations in nearly 150 countries and territories. Aer Lingus left the alliance on 1 April 2007.

oneworld was voted the world's best airline alliance in the 2004 Business Traveller Awards and named the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fourth consecutive year at the 2006 World Travel Awards.

1 Membership history
2 Member airlines
- 2.1 Current members, including affiliate members (regional airline affiliates and their subsidiaries)
- 2.2 Former members
3 Premium status
4 Destinations
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Membership history

1998 - oneworld is launched in September when American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas Airways announce their intention to form an alliance.

1999 - In February, oneworld becomes operational, and member airlines begin offering the alliance benefits. Iberia and Finnair join later this year.

2000 - Aer Lingus and LanChile (now known as LAN Airlines) join the alliance. However, founding member Canadian Airlines is acquired by Air Canada after a period of financial difficulty; Air Canada is a member of rival Star Alliance.

2003 - 2005 - Swiss International Air Lines accepts an invitation to join in September, at the same time signing a memorandum of understanding with British Airways, agreeing to a strategic alliance with the British carrier including extensive code sharing, slot exchange agreements at London Heathrow and merging the SWISS frequent flyer programme with the British Airways Executive Club. However, in June 2004, SWISS terminates the agreement, citing the significant costs and drawbacks of the integration would outweigh the long term benefits. As a result of the termination of the BA alliance, Swiss decides not to proceed with its application to join oneworld (in March 2005, Lufthansa announced the take-over of Swiss, paving the way for its membership in the Star Alliance).
For a time during 2003, British Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines begin discussions on a possible merger, which would significantly increase the size of oneworld, bringing KLM's strategic partner Northwest Airlines into the enlarged alliance. However, the talks are fruitless and KLM merges with Air France the following year, creating the world's largest airline in Air France-KLM and significantly boosting SkyTeam, making it the second largest alliance after Star Alliance.

2005 - On May 24, oneworld signs a memorandum of understanding with Hungary's Malév Hungarian Airlines as the first step towards joining the alliance. Also, on 17 October, Royal Jordanian accepted to join oneworld. It will be the 10th oneworld member and the first airline from the Middle East in a worldwide alliance when joining the alliance in 2006/2007. On 25 October 2005, Japan Airlines (JAL) admitted that the airline is seeking a membership in the oneworld alliance. JAL would expand the oneworld network by around 10 per cent, adding 68 destinations - 56 of them in Japan and five in China. It would add one territory—Guam. On 22 November 2005, Malév accepted a formal invitation to join the alliance, following its satisfactory completion of oneworld safety and quality audits. The invitation is subject to Malév completing codeshare agreements with other alliance partners and continuing to progress towards a return to profitability. It is expected that Malév will be offering full alliance benefits by late 2006 or early 2007. [1]

2006 - Japan Airlines completes first step towards oneworld membership and signs a memorandum of understanding with oneworld Alliance. JAL will join the alliance after reaching the remaining agreements. It's expected that JAL will become a member in 2007.
All oneworld airlines serving Madrid move into the new Terminal 4 on 5 February. The airport is the home base for member Iberia. At John F.Kennedy airport in New York, Malév moved to Terminal 8 to join American Airlines and Finnair.
On May 30, Aer Lingus confirms its intention to leave the alliance on 1 April 2007 as it repositions itself as a low-fares carrier, but will retain bilateral links with oneworld airlines American Airlines, Qantas Airways, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Royal Jordanian moves to Domodedovo airport in Moscow, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and to John F.Kennedy airport (Terminal 4) in New York in order to better transfers with other oneworld airlines.
In September, it was announced that Malév is the first of the new recruits to complete Interline Electronic Ticketing arrangements with all other oneworld members.

2007 - Malév, Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines, LAN Ecuador and LAN Argentina joined the alliance on 1 April. Aer Lingus left the alliance at this date. Dragonair will be joining in 2007 as an affiliate member. [2] Several oneworld member airlines serving Narita International Airport move together into Terminal 2 to align with Japan Airlines hub. All oneworld member airlines except British Airways are now in Terminal 2.

2008 - All oneworld members (except British Airways) serving Heathrow will move into Terminal 3 in March. British Airways will have exclusive use of the new Terminal 5. Details

[edit] Member airlines

[edit] Current members, including affiliate members (regional airline affiliates and their subsidiaries)

oneworld tailfins including new members Japan Airlines, Royal Jordanian and Malev Hungarian. From left: Malev Hungarian, Royal Jordanian, Finnair, LAN Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas Airways, Japan Airlines, British Airways, American Airlines

American Airlines*
- American Eagle
  - Executive Air
- AmericanConnection
  - Chautauqua Airlines
  - Trans States Airlines
British Airways*
- BA CityFlyer
- British Mediterranean Airways
- Comair
- GB Airways
- Loganair
- Sun Air
Cathay Pacific*
- Dragonair
Finnair
Iberia
- Air Nostrum
Japan Airlines
LAN
Malév
Qantas Airways*
- Australian Airlines (now wet-lease subsidiary operating under Qantas Airways livery and flight numbers)
- JetConnect
- QantasLink
  - AirconnexAirlink
  - Eastern Australia Airlines
  - Southern Australia Airlines
  - Sunstate Airlines
  - National Jet Systems
Royal Jordanian

* Founding member

[edit] Former members

Canadian Airlines* - taken over by Star Alliance member Air Canada in 2000
Aer Lingus - withdrew from the alliance on 1 April 2007.

* Founding member

[edit] Premium status

oneworld has three premium levels - Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald - based on a customer's tier status in a member carrier's frequent flyer program. Emerald level is the highest level in each carrier's program. Each of the member airlines recognizes the elite statuses, with a few exceptions. The statuses have no specific requirements of their own; membership is based solely on the frequent flyer programs of individual member airlines.

[edit] oneworld Ruby

oneworld Ruby status is awarded to customers who have reached the first premium level of a member carrier's frequent flyer program.

Benefits of oneworld Ruby membership:

Priority Reservations Waitlisting
Priority Airport Stand-by
Priority Airport Check-in (Business Class)
Preferred Seating

Membership tiers granting oneworld Ruby:

American Airlines (AAdvantage) - Gold
British Airways (Executive Club) - British Airways does not have an equivalent Ruby tier
Cathay Pacific (Marco Polo Club) - Silver
Finnair (Finnair Plus) - Silver
Iberia (Iberia Plus) - Silver
Japan Airlines (JAL Mileage Bank) - Crystal non-JAL Global Club (JGC) members; JGC members who have not reached 20000 or more Fly On Points a year, including 4 or more JAL group flights
LAN (LanPass) - Premium
Qantas Airways (Frequent Flyer) - Silver

[edit] oneworld Sapphire

oneworld Sapphire status is awarded to customers who have reached the second highest premium level of a member carrier's frequent flyer program.

Benefits of oneworld Sapphire membership:

Priority Reservations Waitlisting
Priority Airport Stand-by
Priority Airport Check-in (Business Class)
Preferred Seating
Priority Boarding
Airport Lounge Access (Business Class)

Membership tiers granting oneworld Sapphire:

American Airlines (AAdvantage) - Platinum
British Airways (Executive Club) - Silver
Cathay Pacific (Marco Polo Club) - Gold
Finnair (Finnair Plus) - Gold
Iberia (Iberia Plus) - Gold
Japan Airlines (JAL Mileage Bank) - Crystal and JAL Global Club (JGC) member; JGC members who have reached 20,000 or more Fly On Points a year, including 4 or more JAL group flights; Sapphire
LAN (LanPass) - Silver
Qantas Airways (Frequent Flyer) - Gold