This is great news and they were not high on our list of potential members. Looks as if they have a nice fleet of wide and narrow body Airbuses and a good product overall.
If they now start flying to NRT and MLE things would be even better.

There's alot of talk with JL, at one stage they said they were going to sponsor VN into OW, then they ended up loosing them to ST.

MU we will see who they will choose in somewhere this week/next week!
9W I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure ST would like to grab them into their camp! Both IT & 9W were at one stage interested in joining ST.

I hope Malaysian (MH) joins oneworld. There's a big gap in Southeast Asia right now, and MH would be a great add. But that'd probably mean realigning half of the Kangaroo runs to connect through Kuala Lumpur. Are Qantas and BA willing to do that?

No. It would not be the condition. If MH joins OW, BA/QF will still connect through BKK/SIN. The current agreement would not be effected. And if MH joins there is more reasons for BA/QF to hold market share in BKK/SIN.

However, if MH joins OW, one change may occur. BA may drop BKK-SYD route and let QF to run on their own and codeshare only. Then BA may have enough plane to do 10 times a week scedule between UK and BKK.

The ugly side would be that it would be difficult for BA members to earn points on MH metal but MH members will get loads of points from BA.

Superb news. Especially the speed which which they are suggesting it will be done by.

What a turn around for OW - a week ago it looked like they might lose an Asian carrier, but instead now they will have an extra one!

And Kingfisher is a superb airline.

But are the safety standards up to other OW members level? Tried to ask that before in this thread.

I don't think anyone here is able to say. If past performance is an indication then they have a clean record. However, they were founded just 5 years ago so there is not much data to look at.

The only time I flew a Chinese carrier was in January with Air China, the only thing good about Air China was getting off it! Now I have never flown on neither China Eastern or Hainan Airlines, anyone flown on them both? And which one would you say is better 'quality', cos oneworld should only be interested in 'quality' and not quantity!! :)

Additionally, I really hope oneworld should take MH, because MH is another 5-star airline and will fill the gap in Southeast Asia.

Why would MH join oneworld unless the other oneworld carriers improved their service to/from Kuala Lumpur? In other words, what can oneworld offer MH in terms of synergies?

If BA/QF routed some Kangaroo routes via KUL, that'd do it. But unless they do that, I don't think the present oneworld service to MH's hub is sufficient to entice MH to join.

Does anyone have an idea when they will join - OW website is saying "no date set"?

I doubt it will ever happen. KFR is not in good financial condition and I doubt it has spent the $ required to align its systems with OW.

they were/are(?) one of the purchasing targets of the newly formed IAG group (BA/IB), furthermore Mallya spirits' empire has enough steam to carry on them for the foreseeable future, I don't think money is as big as a problem. Organization maybe, and in need of good restructuring in the hand of capable managers: he few times i traveled with them saw a good product, but a tad overshadowed by Mallya antics.
Otherwise there is always a backup option, 9W.

Product isn't the issue. They lack the cash to pay their bills when they become due and only pay when they absolutely have to to avoid AOGs.

So it looks like Kingfisher financially unstable, MX down the tubes, JL still on the brink, AA potentially heading for chapter 11 and who know what with LAN/TAM...about time I think I switch to *A

And now a Euro120.6 million first quarter loss for Air Berlin - situation looks better by the day!!!!