Major Air Transport Alliances Keep Flexing their Muscles

The three major alliances in air transport, OneWorld, Skyteam and Star have been quietly continuing to integrate more carriers and strengthen their dominance in various markets.

The main focus of all of them last year was service enhancement. OneWorld was the first to offer an e-ticket fully compatible for all its members. Star Alliance opened its first branded lounge at Nagoya airport and Skyteam already has over 20 ticket offices around the world for its passengers.

After three years of stagnation, OneWorld announced in 2005 the entry of Hungarian Malev, Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian into the alliance. All these carriers should join during 2006.

OneWorld, led by British Airways and Iberia in Europe, will then have a network of 686 destinations in 140 countries and territories. It will still be behind Star Alliance, which will integrate this year Swiss and South African Airways. Star already serves 840 destinations in 155 countries. It has a passenger market share of 24.7 percent compared with 15.3 percent for OneWorld and 22.4 percent for Skyteam.

Led by Air France/KLM, Skyteam plans to integrate Aeroflot and China Southern, as well as Middle East Airlines (Lebanon) as an “associate member”. In 2005, Skyteam was present in 137 countries and 637 destinations.