Airline alliance

World map showing home countries of the airlines in the three largest airline alliances: Star Alliance (grey), SkyTeam (blue) and Oneworld (purple) with IATA codes of founding members outlined in red. (In the SVG file, hover over a code to highlight its alliance; click to load its article.)

An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within countries. This branding may involve unified aircraft liveries of member aircraft.[1]

Rationale

Benefits can consist of:

Airline alliances may also create disadvantages for the traveler, such as:

Issues

The ability of an airline to join an alliance may be restricted by laws and regulations or subject to approval by authorities. Competition law issues must also be considered in some countries.

History

The first airline alliance was formed in the 1930s, when Panair do Brasil and its parent company Pan American World Airways agreed to exchange routes to Latin America. In 1990, the African Joint Air Services (AJAS) Accord between Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia led to the launch of Alliance Air in 1994 with South African Airways, Air Tanzania, Uganda Airlines and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania as shareholders.

The first large alliance had started in 1989, when Northwest Airlines and KLM agreed to codeshare on a large scale. In 1992, the Netherlands signed the first open skies agreement with the United States, in spite of objections from the European Union, which gave both countries unrestricted landing rights on the other's soil. Normally landing rights are granted for a fixed number of flights per week to a fixed destination. Each adjustment requires negotiating, often between governments rather than between the companies involved. The United States was so pleased with the independent position taken by the Netherlands that it granted antitrust immunity to the alliance between Northwest Airlines and KLM. Other alliances would struggle for years to overcome transnational barriers or still do so.

The Star Alliance was founded in 1997, which brought competing airlines to form Oneworld in 1999 and SkyTeam in 2000.

In 2010 Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, announced his intention to form a fourth alliance among Virgin branded airlines (Virgin Atlantic; Virgin America; and the Virgin Australia Holdings group of airlines).[2] Then in September 2011, Branson said that Virgin would join one of the existing alliances;[3] this idea was repeated in October 2012.[4] In December 2012, Delta Air Lines purchased Singapore Airlines' 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for £224 million.

On February 14, 2013, it was announced that American Airlines and US Airways would merge, retaining the American Airlines name and would remain in the Oneworld alliance. US Airways participation in the Star Alliance lapsed. In 2012, in South America, LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines began their merger. In March 2014, with the merger complete, TAM left Star Alliance and became part of LAN in Oneworld.

On September 21, 2015, the Vanilla Alliance was formed between several airlines based in the Indian Ocean region, in order to improve air connectivity within the region. The founding members are Air Austral, Air Mauritius, Air Madagascar, Air Seychelles, and Int'Air Îles.

On January 18, 2016, the first alliance of low-cost carriers was formed, U-FLY Alliance. The founding members—HK Express, Lucky Air, Urumqi Air, and West Air—are all affiliated with HNA Group, although the alliance is also seeking airlines not within the group.[5]

Current alliances

Star Alliance

Main article: Star Alliance

Star Alliance, founded in 1997, currently has 27 members:[6]

SkyTeam

Main article: SkyTeam

SkyTeam, founded in 2000, currently has 20 members:[7]

Possible new members of the alliance country Brazil's GOL Airlines and India's Jet Airways.

Oneworld

Main article: Oneworld

Oneworld, founded in 1999, currently has 15 members:[8]

Additionally, Aer Lingus will join Oneworld as part of its takeover by International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia Airlines.[9]

It is possible that the future new members Air Tahiti Nui, IndiGo, Interjet and Royal Air Maroc.

Vanilla Alliance

Vanilla Alliance, founded in 2015, currently has 5 members:[10]

U-FLY Alliance

U-FLY Alliance, founded in 2016, currently has 4 members:[11]

Statistics

Star Alliance[6] SkyTeam[7] Oneworld[8] U-FLY Alliance Vanilla Alliance Rest of Industry
Passengers per year 653.81 million 588 million 512.3 million 17.1 million 2.3 million 1.223 billion
Countries 193 177 155 9 - 204 (total countries)
Destinations 1,321 1,052 1,010 85 82 4,000 (total destinations)
Fleet size 4,561 4,634 3,428 95 45 11,082
Employees 410,274 481,691 389,788 - 6,000
Revenue Billion US$ 177.42 186.331 143.231 - - 1,651.325 (1,550)
Daily departures 18,521 16,323 14,296 298 -
Former Members (AN) Ansett Airlines
1999–2001, defunct
(KF) Blue1
2004-2012, now a member affiliate
(BD) BMI
2000-2012, absorbed into British Airways[12]
(CO) Continental Airlines
2009–2012, merged with United Airlines
(MX) Mexicana de Aviación
2000–2004, joined Oneworld in 2009
(FM) Shanghai Airlines
2007–2010, merged with China Eastern Airlines and joined SkyTeam in 2011
(JK) Spanair
2003-2012, defunct
(TA) TACA
2012-2013, merged with Avianca
(JJ) TAM Airlines
2010-2014, joined Oneworld in 2014
(US) US Airways
2004-2014, joined Oneworld as an affiliate member of American Airlines
(RG) Varig
1997–2007, ejected		 (CO) Continental Airlines
2004–2009, joined Star Alliance in 2009
(CM) Copa Airlines
2007–2009, joined Star Alliance in 2012
(NW) Northwest Airlines
2004–2009, merged with Delta Air Lines		 (CP) Canadian Airlines
Founder, 1999–2000, acquired by Air Canada
(MA) Malév Hungarian Airlines
2007-2012, defunct
(MX) Mexicana
2009 (ceased operations in 2010, but is considered an inactive member)
(US) US Airways
2014-2015, merged with American Airlines
Average Star Rating[13]3.5933.263.615——3.196
5-Star Airlines 37.5%: All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines12.5%: Garuda Indonesia [14]37.5%: Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways——12.5%: Hainan Airlines
4-Star Airlines 30.556%13.889%11.111%——44.444%
3-Star Airlines 11.864%11.864%5.085%——71.186%
2-Star Airlines —————100%
1-Star Airlines —————100%
Airline Alliance Market Share By Network Capacity 2007

Notes

Airlines not in any alliances

Africa:

Americas:

Asia:

Australasia:

Europe:

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Fernandez de la Torre, Pablo E. "Airline alliances : the airline perspective". DSpace@MIT. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ Perman, Stacy (2010-09-05). "Virgin's Richard Branson Circles His Wagons". TIME. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  3. ↑ Bruner, Jon (2011-09-14). "Virgin Atlantic Will Join an Alliance Soon, Says Richard Branson". Forbes.
  4. ↑ Quinn, James (2012-10-26). "Virgin Atlantic to join global airline alliance, says Branson". Telegraph.
  5. ↑ "HNA Group: four airlines form U-FLY Alliance, world's first LCC grouping, showing HNA consolidation". CAPA - Centre for Aviation. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Member airline". Star Alliance. June 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Facts and Figures". SkyTeam. 5 March 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Oneworld at a glance". Oneworld. 12 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Aer Lingus Is Rebranding Their Loyalty Program". One Mile at a Time. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  10. ↑ "Vanilla Alliance agreements signed in Antananarivo". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  11. ↑ "UFLY Alliance". www.uflyalliance.com. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  12. ↑ "Bmi Formally Leaves". Star Alliance. 2012-05-31. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  13. ↑ "A-Z Airline Quality Rating". Skytrax. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  14. ↑ http://www.airlinequality.com/news/garuda-indonesia-is-certified-as-a-5-star-airline/
  15. ↑ "SkyTeam Associate Program" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  16. ↑ Continental Airlines – Proud member of Star Alliance. Continental.com (2009-10-27). Retrieved on 2011-03-04.
  17. ↑ "Continental Air Leaving SkyTeam Oct 24 To Join Star Alliance". money.cnn.com. 29 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  18. ↑ "TAM and US Airways join oneworld". Oneworld. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Airline alliances.
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