An airline alliance is an agreement between two or more airlines to cooperate for the foreseeable future on a substantial level.
The degree of cooperation differs between alliances.
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2 Hurdles to take 3 Global players |
Benefits might consist of:
The abilities for airlines to form an alliance are often restricted by laws and regulations or subject to approval by authorities. Anti-trust laws play a large role. Sometimes political quid pro quo between governments is at hand.
Also landing rights may not be owned by the airlines themselves but by the nation in which their head office resides. If an airline loses its national identity by merging to a large extent with a foreign company, existing agreements may be declared void by a country which objects to the merger.
The first large alliance which is still functioning started in 1989, when Northwest and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines agreed to code sharing on a large scale. A huge step was taken in 1992 when The Netherlands signed the first open skies agreement with the United States, in spite of objections uttered by the European Union authorities. This gave both countries unrestricted landing rights on each others' soil. Normally landing rights are granted for a fixed number of flights per week to a fixed destination. Each adjustment takes a lot of negotiating, often between governments rather than between the companies involved. The United States was so pleased with the independent position that the Dutch took versus the E.U. that it granted anti-trust immunity to the alliance between Northwest and KLM. Other alliances would struggle for years to overcome transnational barriers or still do so. Benefits/Costs
Benefits for the traveller might be:
This is often realised through code sharing agreements. Many alliances started as only a code sharing network.
This might include sharing of
Disadvantages for the traveller might be:
Hurdles to take
Star Alliance | oneworld | SkyTeam | Northwest/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines/Continental | |
Passengers per year * | 112 million | 85 million | 56 million | 68 million |
Market share * | 23% | 17% | 13% | 11% |
Participants | Air Canada Air New Zealand ANA Austrian Airlines British Midland Lauda Air Lufthansa Mexicana Scandinavian Airlines Thai Airways International Tyrolean Airways United Varig Brazilian Airlines |
Aer Lingus American Airlines British Airways Cathay Pacific Finnair Iberia LanChile Qantas Swiss International Airlines |
Aeromexico Air France Alitalia CSA Czech Airlines Delta Korean Air |
Continental KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Northwest |
external link | star-alliance.com | oneworldalliance.com | skyteam.com | no dedicated site |
* = source IATA / september 2002As the table shows the four alliances together fly 64% of all passengers travelling each year.
Note: market share and number of passengers are quite unrelated. Long haul international flights are much more profitable than shorter national flights (where competition often is even stronger). Freight transport is also a major contributor to profits.