Originally Posted by
forworkandfun
Doubt that SkyTeam could happen; DL would want to squash fearing it would strengthen PR as a challenger to them in the US-Philippines market.
On the contrary, PR in SkyTeam could solidify DL's hold over the U.S.-Philippines market. Combined, PR and DL hold the largest share of that market. PR paired with UA or AA, which funnel their traffic to the Philippines via alliance partners, would still be no match for a PR-DL pairing.
At the same time, PR would be able to funnel more SkyTeam passengers from Southeast Asia to the U.S. DL doesn't serve Indonesia, for example, and passengers from CGK and DPS can connect to U.S. flights via MNL, followed by onward DL flights as DL continues to strengthen LAX (which I hope stays that way).
Originally Posted by
forworkandfun
UA might view bringing PR into Star as an opportunity for code shares that could better challenge DL than through its current, sole, multi-legged offering through Guam (old CO route).
I'm not sure how many people actually bother to go to the Philippines from the U.S. via HNL and GUM, but I bet the number is minuscule. Most UA traffic to the Philippines is funneled via OZ and, more recently, NH. A PR in Star would, however, solidify Star's hold over Southeast Asia, and would cement dominance over U.S.-Southeast Asia alliance traffic.
Originally Posted by
forworkandfun
Similarly, although CX could easily balk, AA might welcome PR into OW as a way for it to get codeshares directly between the US and the Philippines.
AA already funnels U.S.-Philippines traffic via CX. Just because AA and PR have a good working relationship however does not mean that it will be a virtual free pass into oneworld: if it saw the value in codesharing it could have done that outside the alliance framework, but chose not to do so.