News
Oneworld launches ‘connect’ model
June 8th 2018
The oneworld alliance has introduced a new membership tier, oneworld connect, which is designed to fill network gaps with carriers that do not have the scale, capabilities or desire to become full-fledged members. Read More »
The first oneworld connect partner will be Fiji Airways; no launch date has been announced thus far.
Oneworld said it is in discussions with other carriers interested in participating in the programme, including airlines in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe.
Each oneworld connect partner will need to have a minimum of three oneworld members as its sponsors to be initiated into the programme. The initial oneworld sponsors of Fiji Airways will be all four of oneworld’s original founding members - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways. The Australian flag carrier will additionally mentor Fiji Airways through its oneworld connect implementation process. Qantas has a 46% stake in Fiji Airways.
American, Cathay and Qantas already codeshare and have frequent flyer links with Fiji Airways. British Airways and Fiji Airways are currently discussing areas for potential bilateral cooperation, including codesharing on flights from Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Sydney.
Oneworld connect partners will provide select alliance benefits to frequent flyers from any oneworld member airline travelling on their flights, with a more extensive range of benefits offered with their oneworld sponsors, including through check-in, the ability to earn and redeem frequent flyer awards, mileage and status points accrual and lounge access.
“oneworld’s current network of more than 1,000 destinations in 150 plus territories offers far-reaching global coverage, but there are still some regions where we would like to strengthen our presence further. With fewer potential new candidates available to recruit based on our established membership criteria, oneworld connect enables us to link up with other airlines whose networks are relevant to a subset of our members, who cannot meet oneworld’s full membership requirements at this stage or who are not interested in full membership at present,” said oneworld CEO, Rob Gurney.
Rival Star Alliance announced its own connecting partner programme in 2015, launching with Shanghai’s Juneyao Airlines last year. THAI told Orient Aviation last month that the airline is working on folding its Thai Smile subsidiary into the connecting partner scheme.
Star Alliance is currently focusing on its digital transformation, rather than adding new full-fledged members. Star CEO, Jeffrey Goh, this week said: “At yesterday’s Chief Executive Board Meeting the member carrier CEOs re-affirmed the shift in strategy and endorsed the alliance’s plan to enable more interconnectivity between the digital services of the member airlines to elevate the customers’ alliance travel experience.”
The alliance chief added: “Our members feel comfortable that we have enough size for a global network. There aren’t too many airlines that you would seek to integrate that would add significant value compared to what we already have. We shouldn’t just be seeking membership for the sake of it.”
