FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Thoughts on aer Lingus sale?
View Single Post
Old May 19, 2005 | 10:59 am
  #3  
Gardyloo
Moderator, OneWorld
40 Countries Visited
2M
All eyes on you!
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 12,525
Oh I love debates on who should leave/join OW. Is this the right place?

Item: HP (the airline, not the sauce) and US are signing the prenup like now; the consummation is planned for sometime before my roses have gone to hips. They will do business under the US name and remain with Star Alliance. There goes (soonish I bet) all of BA's codeshares in the American southwest and Pacific region, where AA has decided to bail. My guess is that absent a replacement, BA's PHX and maybe even DEN flights will be harder to justify, since LAS will be harder to get to. AS would be the logical replacement but that's an argument that's been well argued. FWIW, AC is bankrolling the merger to some degree, so along with UA's good Pacific coast/western Canada access, the Star noose on the west coast is tightening. I cannot believe OW will let this huge market just slip away, but it seems to be.

Item: Even if EI stays, OW has crummy access to central Europe from N. America without stopping at some peripheral point - MAD, LON, HEL, etc. Is SN Brussels a viable member or is everyone still skittish about their long term viability? With Swiss out of the picture I have a hard time imagining who else could provide service to those destinations. Having ridden on Czech for the first time last month I would think about trying to lure them away from Skyteam - pretty classy outfit in an ocean of Star carriers. This might be easier to contemplate if Aeroflot joins Skyteam as expected.

Item: Eastern Europe/near east. What about Turkish? They really don't compete with any OW carriers on the vast bulk of their routes, have an existing partnership with AA, and seem to field a reasonably decent product. I can't imagine BA blackballing them. Granted, another peripheral Euro player, but maybe worth a look.

Far East: I don't know enough about the intracacies of Asian airline politics to know who could/should be thought about here. Obviously JAL comes to mind but they seem to be happy with the status quo.

Sorry if this is OT but it's fun.
Gardyloo is offline