Originally Posted by
Calchas
A CEO who can be quiet
and an existing business relationship.
Yes.
Oneworld is just a marketing arrangement. I think the relevance of alliances is overstated.
James Hogan isn't always quiet, but maybe the Americans find it easier to deal with a bunch of expats in the Middle East.
Oneworld is indeed just a framework for marketing agreements, but they can lead to more substantial relationship - see the JVs on the Atlantic and Europe-Asia. I think further JVs are mooted for the Pacific and LATAM, AA and IAG are in the process of deepening their relationship on the markets to and from Latin America.
Short of full foreign ownership of airlines (which outside the EU isn't going to happen for a long time, if ever), alliances and their JVs are the next best thing to getting some form of global presence.