Well it would be great for me if Hong Kong Airlines (a Hainan subsidiary) became a OneWorld affiliate - I would love to be able to get MPC status miles flying to Clark!

I guess it may become a reality as long as CX doesn't reject them.

Hainan Airlines Plans to Join Oneworld Alliance
March 12, 2007

Hainan Airlines, the fourth largest airline company in China, has announced plans to launch two new routes and join the Oneworld Alliance this year to make up for its shortage in overseas airline networks.

The two new planned routes are a Beijing to Osaka route opening on March 25, and a Beijing to St. Petersburg line starting in May 2007.

A senior manager from Hainan Airlines disclosed that the company had already passed their application to the Oneworld Alliance, and Japan Airlines, a member of Oneworld Alliance, who is sharing its code with Hainan Airlines, will be the recommender for this application.

Air China has joined Star Alliance and China Southern has joined the SkyTeam Alliance, so among the four largest airlines companies in China, only China Eastern hasn't any acted to join an international aviation alliance.

Li Jiaxiang, board chairman of Air China, said that it is hard for an airline company to make a great development by only depending on its own power under today's competition in the global aviation industry. Joining international aviation alliances means airline companies in China can extend their networks all over the world with the support of partners.

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/...orld-alliance/

wow! talk about a speedy turn of events!

there are visions of hu ft threads dancing around in my head. possible titles:

"i never knew 767s could hold so many people"
"8 hours of fun at hongqiao"
"beijing chiropractor recommendations sought"
"what on earth is xinhua airlines?"
"warm pbr never tasted so good"
"aer lingus looks a lot better now"
"do they ever use real gates?"
"they brought in a spare airplane from haikou!"
"i received a phone call from hu this morning advising me that my noon flight had been rescheduled for 10p"

What I'm looking forward to (assuming they join OW) is being able to redeem miles on them...maybe not on the transpac segments (though it does provide another option ex-US non-stop to China), but moreso for plethora of itineraries it opens up for award travel within China, or as part of an Asia 1 award ticket (i.e. LAX-PVG(x)-XIY(x)-PVG-LAX, etc). Sure the additional flight from PVG-XIY is marginal in cost (maybe ~$100 on a Chinese carrier through elong or yoee), but the ease of having it all on one ticket will be great

i was also looking forward to redeeming miles on mu, but on the monopoly routes to japan and korea that feature the sky high fares.

Exactly my thinking.

Looks like SQ is buying (a percentage of) China Eastern.

Link

Looks like it's around 24%

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/arti...cle_318641.htm

I guess they are trying to do this to prevent 1W from getting their hands into a Chinese based carrier.

I think their motivation is more direct. SQ wants to get their hands on a Chinese carrier. I don't think that they care much about 1W either way.

I would agree. In fact I see no way to stop either them joining Oneworld or another airline changing. US will require some balance.

Just like CX and Air China - ownership and alliance can be independent.

So it looks like OW flights and mileage redemption on the China - Korea routes are as distant as ever. Don't really want to do a detour via Hongkong.

Ok, I'll stick to OZ then.

You could detour via Japan on JAL...

I can't imagine that SQ would attempt to stall MU's entry into OW because, as an investor, it is looking out for its bottom line and alliance membership will help that.

Although, I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility that --at some point-- SQ could drop out of the alliance game and just play ball with airlines in which it has equity. But, for now, that is pure fantasy.