Originally Posted by
J_Fleish
Based on the article posted on this forum about 9W it seems they are aligning themselves with Star Alliance more then Skyteam with discontinuing service to JFK (Delta's Hub) and Keeping Newark which is a United Hub. The other Europe destinations they say they want to focus on are Frankfurt and Munich again Star Alliance Hubs. They already have a Brussels Hub another Star Alliance hub. The only SkyTeam Hub they are looking at adding service to is Paris CDG (Air France Hub). So I think 9W will more likely end up in Star Alliance based on these facts.
Not at all. The dropping of JFK is because they just got new nonstop competition on the route from Brussels Airlines. Since they already codeshare with SN for European feed, and SN's JFK flight fits into the 9W bank, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they are planning to use a codeshare on that flight...
Their current destinations have very little relevance in the choice of alliance based on what their chairman has said in the past - if they choose Star Alliance, they are expected to move their scissor hub to MUC. If they choose SkyTeam, they are expected to move their scissor hub to AMS or MXP.
Also, one factor you didn't mention is the government of India. They are pretty pissed off with Star Alliance over the Air India debacle (and Star Alliance is pissed with them too). However, since the government of India is far more powerful than Star Alliance, and Star needs India more than India needs Star, it would not surprise me if AI ended up in Star Alliance instead of 9W. On the other hand, it also would not surprise me if AI ended up in SkyTeam and 9W in SkyTeam... Nothing is clear enough to be drawing conclusions right now.