Are their any airlines out there OW is looking to bring into the fold?

Here is a snipet from Joe Brancatelli's web site this week:

Adding another carrier may be the last thing they consider if this report is true.

The Star Alliance seems to be growing out of control... I mean, as more and more airlines join the coup, can elite membership be recognised evenly? Can top standards be maintained?

Oneworld may seem to be the better of most alliances but their airline membership doesn't seem to be growing very much.

I don't understand what the quoted Oneworld member(s) find so terrible about Oneworld as it stands. When I have front-cabin international flying, I keep it all on Oneworld airlines -- better treatment at check-in, lounges, on-board, and through AAdvantage bonus miles. Were there no oneworld, I might well take someone other than BA into the Middle East and Africa, and perhaps even SQ to Asia. Of course I don't have so much front-cabin int'l travel, and neither do many others, but this is the result of the economic situation, not oneworld.

A little out-of-date perhaps, but this is the last official word I've seen:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/001290.html
Reuters: 'Oneworld' airlines say new members unlikely soon

MADRID, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The international airline alliance Oneworld has switched its priority to deepening ties among the eight existing members instead of recruiting new ones, officials said after a meeting in Madrid on Friday.

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I, too find it interesting about the fragility of the alliance, as I thought things have been moving (slowly) in the right direction. AA finally received their limited codeshare approval this past week, which is a big deal, IMHO, given that AA and BA were never going to giive up the LHR slots necessary to have a full codeshare agreement approved.

Rod Eddington (CEO BA) was quoted around the time of the results release that the priority for OW airlines at the moment is to get their house in order regarding financial viability and once that was sorted work more on the alliance.
BA,CX,AA,EI&IB all have some work to do on this then. I am not sure of Finnair or Lan Chile's financial status.

CX's financial status, SARS notwithstanding, is one of the strongest of any airline anywhere in the world. Net profit 9 out of the last ten years, most years quite a big one.

Hmmm ... I'm still awaiting Swiss to join Oneworld. They started working with Finnair, Iberia and a couple of months ago those signals were very strong.

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Cheers,

Brenno.
http://wereldverkenning.nl

LX would love to join OW ASAP but I thought/heard it was BA who objects (due to monopoly issue reasons). LX certainly has a codeshare relationship with AA and AA, CX, IB, QF and AY flights can earn miles in the LX FFP.

With airlines getting less that 5% revenue benefit from alliances where would you be focusing those last few dollars.

My bet is that JAL will be next in line to join Oneworld. With their codeshare relationship with AA and with ANA being a member of the Star Alliance it almost seems like a perfect fit for Oneworld to compete with the Star Alliance in Japan. With that being said I don't know how well CX would like having to compete with another Asian carrier.

I still believe oneworld is the superior group of airlines, and this has been made more clear having been forced into the STAR Alliance by AC's merger with CP a couple of years back. STAR has still not got its integration as together as it might be. And standards are all over the map among carriers. Lounges have little class and are always overcrowded, in part because STAR has no third tier like Emerald for top tier members.

Interesting that oneworld would be so negative about itself and not see how good this alliance is.

As for new members, can't see who. JAL tends to stand apart, and I am not so sure CX would let them in. The real catch would be SAA, though oneworld, with BA and QF, has a better reach into SAfrica than does STAR.

This is just speculation on my end, but I see JL the most likely candidate for joining the oneworld alliance. They already code share with many of the current alliance partners; AA, CX, and BA just to name a few. Other airlines that I see joining oneworld down the line are China Eastern, and Swiss (if BA ever gives up slots). Longshots would be Gulf Air and South African Airways.
Actually, I like the current size of the alliance. Star Alliance is way too big and Skyteam consists mostly of mostly the rift raft carriers. Oneworld is just right.

swiss has basically agreed to reduce its fleet and dance to BA's tune, opening the way for full oneworld membership by the end of the year.

JL has a problem with their proprietary CRS computer system will will cost millions to replace to finally be compatible with the rest of oneworld. Otherwise, nothing stands in the way of JAL membership, BA and AA are even pressing for it.

alliances are about monopoly power (thus actually bad for the consumer, this is why the alliances have to come up with all the so-called 'perks' to lull is into believing that we want them). oneworld consists only of airlines which in their respective market have a particular strong position and monopoly power. any expansion will likely follow that that lead, whilst *A is just a miles club.

the problem is: a miles collection club is much easier to maintain and expand than a competition-stifling alliance aimed at securing profits and raising prices. so oneworld is meeting a lot more resistance than the shallow *A from the regulators' side. Some recent ba and cx, aa and cx codeshares and last weeks qf and cx rome codeshare announcement are a step in the right direction.

having said that, the current climate is actually good for oneworld as regulators are more likely to approve competition-reducing moves. headway has been made on the atlantic crossing issues ba/aa... so it may well work out for oneworld in the end. if you look closely at the price war between the *A members on key routes, where even premium fares are coming down to unheard levels, while oneworld is pretty much keeping their premium fares where they were before Iraq and SARS, we may well be at a decisive juncture that will lead to the demise of one of these two models.

Although swiss would be a nice addition, recent stories in the aviation press are indicating that swiss is having a difficult time at running the airline. And the swiss gov't is not likely to help again. So, I doubt that any changes for the next few years at least.
I will take a contrarian view and would like Ethiopian Airlines (??) to join for African cities. True that the hub is not a favorite destination of many, but its coverage of the entire African continent is extensive. I also remember that it was a well run company in the past.