alliances

The increase this summer in congested airport terminals with interminable queues for passengers is prompting Star Alliance to speed up the introduction of biometric technologies. The world's largest airline alliance, with 26 members, wants to increase the possibilities for contactless travel. And to reduce congestion at airports, especially given the shortcomings...

It was almost an open secret. Or at least a predictable development. The very strong links forged over the years between Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on the transatlantic route - and then by ricochet with Air France/KLM - could only lead to integration in due form within the Skyteam alliance. The announcement...

From August 1, Germany's national rail carrier Deutsche Bahn (DB) will become Star Alliance's first intermodal partner. In doing so, DB and the aviation sector are sending out another strong signal in support of the environmentally friendly development of the travel industry. As part of the new cooperation, DB customers and airlines will be able to...

The announcement is due to be made official on Monday 4 July. But the whole of the German press is already talking about it: Deutsche Bahn is to become a new member of Star Alliance, a first in the world of airline alliances. Deutsche Bahn is already a partner of Lufthansa on routes between Germany and Frankfurt airport. But now it is to become the...

Oneworld officially announced on 20 June that Oman Air would be joining the alliance by 2024. The arrival of Oman Air in the oneworld alliance will strengthen the position of this grouping of airlines in the Middle East. Oman Air will be the second Gulf carrier to join the alliance after Qatar Airways and, in the Levant, will be the first to join the...

The launch of Star Alliance's 25th anniversary celebrations will mean a series of innovations for passengers. One of the most important is the launch of a future co-branded credit card. This will include all the airlines in the group. However, few details have been revealed about the future card....

Just over two months after the inauguration of the new international terminal in Santiago - the fruit of an investment of 860 million euros - SkyTeam is completing the business section of the Chilean hub. The airline alliance has just inaugurated a new business lounge, the first in the SkyTeam colours in South America. Business travellers...

Royal Air Maroc has become the first African airline to join oneworld. Why did you wait so long to take this step? Rob Gurney - It was a question of finding the right candidate and being able to identify mutual benefits. I think there was a sort of confluence of events. Royal Air Maroc entered...

You could see the pride in the eyes of the crew of flight AT555, as the Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737 was showered with the traditional "water salute" of major events on Friday 25 March. It has to be said that the Moroccan airline and its crews had to show patience and resilience...

Coincidentally, Royal Air Maroc is celebrating its integration into Oneworld and its arrival in Tel Aviv in March. Is it possible to prioritise these two major events? Karim Benchekroun - We had integrated Oneworld as early as April. Unfortunately, the health crisis intervened, and we weren't able to complete the integration...

On 1 January 2021, a new open skies agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States will come into force. It will replace the existing Open Skies agreement between the European Union and the United States, which until now has included the United Kingdom. Ireland's national carrier Aer Lingus is seizing this opportunity and plans to strengthen its position...

Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, has signed an agreement with Star Alliance. The world's largest airline alliance, with 26 members, has announced that it is moving its entire IT infrastructure to the AWS cloud in order to reduce costs and improve performance. Star Alliance is working with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) -...

The oneworld global airline alliance is preparing to welcome a new member, Alaska Airlines, on 31 March. The carrier will be the second North American airline in the group with American Airlines and the 15th oneworld member. The integration of the carrier has been postponed by several months. It was originally due to take place in the fourth quarter of this year. The...

The Star Alliance connections service is nothing new. Launched in 2017, the service was designed to facilitate connections between Star member airlines. Passengers can access connection times at the time of booking. But once on the ground, the transfer formalities involve the intervention of staff...

What is the strategy behind the integration of "Connecting Partners" into Star Alliance? Jeffrey Goh - Star Alliance's strategy has always been to offer the best possible network of destinations to our passengers in order to give them an unrivalled global offer. However, this strategy has had to be adapted over the years as the market has changed...

It took fifteen months of preparation to finally achieve this result: from 1 April 2020, passengers travelling on the national carrier Royal Air Maroc will benefit from the power of the oneworld alliance. On that date, the Moroccan carrier will be integrated into the alliance which includes IAG, American Airlines, Cathay and others.

China Southern's departure from the Skyteam alliance could appear to be a non-event, with codeshare agreements retained and recognition of frequent flyer programmes maintained. This is because the Chinese airline, which wanted to regain complete commercial freedom, has not in fact severed all links with its former alliance partners. Quite the contrary, in fact. It is continuing...

Since Thursday, Skyteam business travellers have been able to enjoy the new lounge inaugurated by the alliance at the new Istanbul airport. Located in the west wing of the hub, on level H, this 582 m² lounge has a capacity of more than 145 seats. The SkyTeam lounge - whose architectural design has been...

The news became official on 4 November: IAG is to add Air Europa to an already very solid airline grouping. Having already brought together players such as Vueling, Aer Lingus and above all Iberia, the parent company of British Airways intends to include this new takeover from the second half of 2020. The Air Europa brand...

A small thunderclap in the skies of international aviation. Delta Air Lines has announced its intention to acquire a 20% stake in LATAM Airlines Group SA, currently South America's largest airline with 143 destinations from half a dozen countries on the semi-continent. The transaction will cost Delta 1.9...