FEBRUARY SEES ONEWORLD BECOME the first airline alliance to officially welcome an Indian airline. The joining ceremony is due to take place on February 10.
Bruce Ashby, Oneworld’s CEO, said Kingfisher Airlines will expand the alliance’s network “substantially” with the addition of 40 destinations on the subcontinent, a “key region of growing travel demand”.
Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya said becoming part of Oneworld “will enable us to offer our customers a truly global network served by partners who include some of the best known and most admired airlines in the world,” he said. “It will also strengthen us financially, through revenues from passengers transferring to our network from our Oneworld partners and the cost reduction opportunities the alliance offers.”
Air India was in the process of becoming part of Star Alliance, but this was put on hold in the summer of 2011 after it failed to meet the group’s standards. Oneworld will also welcome Air Berlin and Malaysia Airlines to the fold in 2012.
As Buying Business Travel went to press, Kingfisher had 15 of its fleet grounded amid reports of cash problems. In November the airline reported Q3 losses of £58 million, double the losses for the same period the previous year.