The Story of Airline Alliances

Most likely, you’ve heard that airline alliances make traveling across countries and continents easy. From a commuter’s standpoint, the ease of travel is still improving despite the problems presented by 9/11. From the airliner and business point of view, there are still ways to improve business and profitability. One way to go about reaching business and profit projections is to enter into an airline alliance. An airline alliance is an agreement among air carriers on many common issues and concerns. These alliances work to allow US air carriers to travel across countries and continents to a partner airline’s hub and priviliges, allowing alliance passengers to transfer to partner flights as connecting flights. Currently, the three largest alliances in use today are Star Alliance, Sky Team and Oneworld Alliance.

Reasons for Alliances

Entering into an airline alliance is a win-win situation for airlines. Here are some of the reasons why being part of an airline alliance is one of the most profitable decisions that an airliner can make.

• The airlines enjoy an extensive and optimized network among themselves, including codesharing, which allows others to share priviliges among member airlines.
• An effective overhead cost reduction occurs for the airline, as each alliance member can share information for booking and reservation purposes.

The airline alliance also provides travelers with the following benefits:

• Price discounts as a result of lowered route operational costs
• More choices for departure times on a given route
• More destinations
• Optimized travel time from facilitated transfers
• Broader airport lounge options
• Increased earning capacity for flyer miles
• Lower around-the-world ticket prices

Airline Alliances Memberships

Three major airline alliances operate in the industry. They are Star Alliance, Sky Team Alliance and Oneworld Alliance, and their member airlines are as follows.

Star Alliance

• Air Canada – Canada’s largest full service airline and the largest provider of scheduled passenger services in Canada.
• Air China – The only airline company servicing China and other stops that carry the flag of the People’s Republic of China.
• Air New Zealand – New Zealand’s national airline serving 52 cities in 15 countries, with 26 destinations within the country.
• All Nippon Airways – One of Japan’s private airlines that serves 77 destinations in 11 countries.
• Asiana Airlines – This is the second flag carrier of South Korea, serving 82 cities in 20 countries and 12 destinations within its country.
• Austrian Airlines – The leading carrier in Central, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
• BMI – The second largest airline company at Heathrow Airport in London, with services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Northern Africa.
• EgyptAir – Egypt’s flag carrier with 69 destinations in 44 countries and over 1200 weekly flights.
• LOT Polish Airlines – This is one of the oldest airlines in Europe, and is currently one of the most modern airlines in Europe, carrying many passengers to major hubs in Europe and North America.
• Lufthansa – Headquartered in Cologne, Germany, the service flies to 208 destinations.
• Scandinavian Airlines - A consortium of the national airlines in Denmark, Norway and Sweden offering 822 flights to Europe.
• Shanghai Airlines – The airline has a fleet of 66 aircraft with a 170 domestic and 13 international and regional destinations.
• Singapore Airlines – Throughout its long history, this airline has become one of the most innovative service carriers to 65 destinations in 35 countries.
• South African Airways – As one of the oldest airlines in the world, it offers travel to 20 destinations across Africa, including its hub in South Africa.
• SpanAir – The Spanish flag carrier offers 250 daily flights with a fleet 48 aircraft covering intercontinental flights to Madrid-Washington-Dallas, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Havana.
• Swiss International Air Lines – Swiss quality service has been a mark of the Swiss national airline, traveling to 90 destinations from its Zurich hub, Basel and Geneva international airports.
• TAP Portugal – The leading Portuguese airline with Lisbon as its hub, traveling to 59 domestic and international destinations in 26 countries throughout the world.
• Thai Airways International – With Bangkok as its hub, this is Asia’s leading airline with 74 destinations in 35 countries worldwide.
• Turkish Airlines – Turkey’s national flag carrier and one of the fastest growing in the world, servicing 112 international and 36 domestic destinations.
• United Airlines – One of the United States’ foremost airlines, servicing 200 domestic and international destinations.
• US Airways – One of the greatest successes in the airline industry from its airmail delivery origins, with 3,800 daily departures to 240 destinations to 32 countries.

Sky Team Alliance

• Aeroflot – The largest Russian airline operating 302 flights a day to 94 destinations in 47 countries.
• AeroMexico – The Caballero Aguila is one of the biggest airlines with offerings of daily flights to North, Central and South America, and Europe and Asia.
• Air France – This French flag carrier operates 1,862 flights, most of which are nonstop to 258 destinations in 110 countries.
• Alitalia – The Italian flagship covers 89 destinations in 44 countries, with 665 flights daily.
• China Southern Airlines – China’s largest airline with a large domestic and international service.
• Continental Airlines – The world’s fifth largest airlines with 289 destinations for its 3,500 daily departures.
• CSA Czech Airlines – The airline is one of the most convenient airlines servicing Western and Eastern Europe.
• Delta Airlines – This US airline service covers 321 destinations in 64 countries, with 37 transatlantic markers.
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines – This is Europe’s leading airline with a total of 258 destinations worldwide either nonstop or through another airport.
• Korean Air – This airline has services to over 115 destinations in over 38 countries.
• Northwest Airlines – This large US airline service has at least 2,655 daily departures with 905 destination cities in 169 countries in six continents.
• Air Europa – This is a local airline in the Spanish territory with 44 destinations in 15 countries.
• Copa Airlines – Its hub is Panama, with 41 destinations serving 22 countries.
• Kenya Airways – The airline of choice in Africa, with 42 destinations in 34 countries.

Oneworld Alliance

• American Airlines – The biggest airline in the world leading to over 250 destinations worldwide.
• British Airways – Based in London Heathrow with 175 destinations in 80 countries.
• Cathay Pacific – One of the premium carriers in Asia with destinations to 115 hubs in 36 countries.
• Finnair – Finland’s air carrier, reaching 60 destinations in 30 countries worldwide.
• Iberia Air – This Spanish flag carrier offers flights to 105 cities in over 40 countries.
• Japan Airlines – The largest airline in the Asia Pacific Region with operations in 90 destinations in 25 countries.
• LAN Alliance – The merged service for Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Peru, which serves 60 destinations in 20 countries in Latin America and the world.
• Malev – The Hungarian flag carrier serves 50 destinations in 37 countries throughout Europe.
• Qantas – The Australian airline and covers 85 destinations in 40 countries through its long distance carrier service.
• Royal Jordanian – The national carrier of Jordan and one of the best services in the Middle East, with 50 destinations in 30 countries worldwide.