Paul: Thanks for your question - and for your support of oneworld. We recognise that our network coverage in Africa is not as strong as in other regions of the world and, over time, this is something we would be interested in addressing.

Bearing in mind oneworld's requirements (quality of customer service, safety, profitability track record, brand name etc), potential candidate recruits based in the continent are limited, however. But not non-existent.

Also, because of the level of demand for air travel within the continent - currently only around a 2 per cent of world demand - it is less of a priority for recruitment than some other regions.

Having said all that, it is worth noting that our existing carriers provide competitive schedules to and from the continent - and that oneworld was in fact the first alliance with a member based in Africa, in the form of the BA franchisee Comair in southern Africa.

Interesting point you raise about xONEx fares, which I have passed on to our fares people to see if there is anything they could consider here.

All the best

oneworld4u