Oneworld

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oneworld
Official Launch Date		February 1, 1999
Members	Full	8
	Non-Voting	0
	Pending	3
Destinations Served	Airports	609
Destinations Served	Countries	135
Annual Passengers (M)		258.3
Fleet Size		2161 <tr><th colspan="2">Management</th><td>John McCulloch (CEO)</td></tr>
Website		oneworld.com

The correct title of this article is oneworld. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

For other uses, see Oneworld (disambiguation).

oneworld is a worldwide airline alliance. As of 2005 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. Based in Vancouver, Canada, it has a Managing Director, 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 over 600 destinations in 135 countries around the world, operating over 8000 daily flights. 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 carriers totalling more than US$2.2 billion and an overall deficit by SkyTeam's members in excess of US$7 billion.

Its existing members currently serve 135 countries and 609 destinations. With Japan Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Malév, LAN Ecuador and LAN Argentina expected to join late in quarter one of 2007, the Oneworld map will extend to 686 destinations in 140 countries and territories.

Aer Lingus has confirmed that intends to leave the alliance on the 1st of 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 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 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 being 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 Alliance 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 Alliance. 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 Oneworld's existing 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 New York JFK, Malév moved to Terminal 8 to join American Airlines and Finnair.
On May 30, Aer Lingus confirms its intention to leave the alliance as it repositions itself as a low-fares carrier, but will retain bilateral links with a number of the grouping's member airlines. The timing and terms for its withdrawal will be considered at the next meeting of the alliance's Governing Board, but it is likely to be in early 2007.
Royal Jordanian moves to Domodedovo airport in Moscow, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and to Terminal 4 at New York JFK in order to better transfers between it and other oneworld airlines.
In September, it was announced that Malév is the firstof the new recruits to complete Interline Electronic Ticketing arrangements with all other oneworld airlines.

2007- It is expected that Malév, Royal Jordanian and Japan Airlines will join the alliance towards the end of quarter one 2007 with firm dates to be announced in January 2007. Lan Ecuador and LAN Argentina are also joining early in 2007. [2]

2007 - On April 1, Aer Lingus will leave the alliance.

2008 - All Oneworld airlines (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] Members

[edit] Current (including regional subsidaries)

Line-up of Oneworld member airlines' tailfins.

+ Founding member of the alliance

Δ Aer Lingus plans to leave the Oneworld Alliance in April 2007

[edit] Former

Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canadian Airlines+ - Taken over by Star Alliance member Air Canada in 2000.

Note+: A founding member of the Oneworld Alliance.

[edit] Future

Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svg Japan Airlines [11] - the airline received a formal invitation to join Oneworld on June 4, 2006. The airline will officially join the alliance in early 2007.([12])
Image:Flag of Chile (bordered).svg LAN [13]
- Image:Flag of Ecuador.svg LAN Ecuador - to become an affilate in 2007.
- Image:Flag of Argentina.svg LAN Argentina - to become an affilate in 2007.
Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Malév [14] - the airline accepted an invitation to join the alliance on 22 November 2005, expected to be a full-fledged member in early 2007.
Image:Flag of Jordan.svg Royal Jordanian [15] - the airline has accepted an invitation to join the alliance, expected to be a full-fledged member in early 2007.

[edit] Potential future members

Although the alliance is now currently growing by recruiting new members after years of limiting its membership to eight carriers, Oneworld prepares to accept a future membership of 12 carriers, and no more, in order to prevent the alliance from becoming unwieldy. [16]

Image:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Cathay Pacific
- Image:Flag of Hong Kong.svg Dragonair [17] - Expect to join as an affilate of Cathay Pacific after its merger with Cathay is completed. Oneworld's website specifically stated that Dragonair is on par with the standard of the alliance and may join if Cathay wants.
Image:Flag of Canada.svg WestJet [18] - In August 2006, it was confirmed that WestJet is in talks with Oneworld to join the alliance. Oneworld has been left without a Canadian flight network since the buyout of Canadian Airlines by Air Canada.[19]

[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. 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.