Originally Posted by
CXBA
during the DL attempt many chimed in and swore that the main draw to ST was the chance to deepen further the already "good" cooperation between JL and KE, so it is puzzling now the reverse is deemed true. Kudos to JL anyway for having chosen the best option available and for having seen through the BS put forward by DL.
As for the "legions of issues" of OW, I may bet that quality and reliability are not among them. Personally I'd always stay clear of an alliance in which one of the core members lose an airplane in the middle of the Atlantic due to deficient crew training and by equipping the aircraft with inadequate speed sensors manufactured by the local national champion. KE is possibly the one quality carrier remaining in ST, it would not be a tragedy if they decide to defect, since the alliance current stance is against recruiting them, as it happened also with MH.
To be clear, I wasn't talking about any customer perceptions of the carriers. I was referring to the fact that in OW from a business perspective:
- Qantas has bypassed the joining of Qatar to have one of their key bilateral arrangements ditch BA and head outside the alliance to Emirates.
- Air Berlin's new management have said if they had the choice, they probably wouldn't have joined in favour of deepening bilateral relationships with airlines like Etihad.
- Cathay and Qantas relations, never good, are at an all-time low, and Cathay are going to make any mainland Chinese carrier joining a low probability.
Operationally, OW and Skyteam are demonstrating that alliances aren't necessarily achieving what they are designed to. If KE was to leave Skyteam, they may well look at staying alliance free and negotiating bilateral relationships and JVs like many airlines are now doing (Emirates, Etihad, Alaska, JetBlue, Virgin Australia).