Hell, just merge them all into the One Star In the Sky Alliance

China Eastern (MU) now looks likely to be merged into Air China. Maybe there is some concession to Cathay to allow this? Pure speculation but maybe Dragonair to get domestic slots at PVG and/or PEK? Or even better, slots to Japan and Korea?

How about Brussels Airlines ? A couple of weeks ago they expressed their intention to finalize their option for OW or *A before the end of this year. Any chance the will join OW together with Jet Airways ? OW is still missing an Indian carrier (Air India will join *A in 2009) while SN might strengthen the OW position in Africa and Europe.

Welcome to FT and the OW forum, Fuji San! You are listing some of the airlines we have been speculating about in this forum for a while. We all would love to see 9W join. And I personally would be more happy about AS joining than SN but this is just my preference.

I agree. OW needs to move with some urgency, as *A seems to be gobbling up airlines left and right. We desperately need another American carrier, and AS is perfect because it would greatly strengthen West Coast operations.

And the day SN becomes OW is the day I book multiple flights to Africa.

Don't overlook the possibility of defections from *A and ST, which OW isn't also immune too. We have seen several events so far:

Canadian Airlines was originally a founding member of OW, but was later bought out by Air Canada, a *A member.

Aer Lingus was also a former OW member, but broke off relations "to pursue a low-cost carrier model." But then we're seeing them codesharing with UA so...?

Yet, *A is notorious for putting burdens upon smaller airlines and is much less decentralized compared to OW. A prime example of this was seen with Mexicana who was formerly *A. They utilized the loophole of not renewing codeshare agreements with UA to be purposely kicked out of *A which they then began to slowly re-align their codeshares to OW carriers.

CO's realignment to join *A came out of the result of a big merger between DL and NW - they didn't see a benefit of being the lone US carrier. They were first approached by UA on a merger deal which collapsed. BA and AA then tried to woo them in to OW, but UA came knocking again with a deal to join *A. With CO and AA sharing many similar routes, it was apparent that CO would join *A.

In this day in age of rising fuel prices, anything can happen. So who knows?


My best bet for OW:
AS - definitely a must to strengthen US West Coast routes.
Carriers from BRICs nations - They will be the nations that lead the 21st century, and OW has a serious lack of carrier presence on all four nations.
Ethiopian Airlines - OW needs to strengthen Africa. Out of all the airlines, Ethiopian is the most stable and profitable which reflects OW's philosophy. If not OW, the others might bring them in.
Carrier(s) from SE Asia - Another hole that OW has compared to *A which has TG and SQ
woo more carriers in Europe - How about a Greek airline? OA hasn't joined any alliances yet.

@:-)AS would be a perfect fit!
How about TAM and tie up South America!!
I flew a segment on TAM in first to MIA because of a delay and it seemed like a good company?

Don't think this has been posted before.

http://www.aviationrecord.com/news-a...&articleId=650

Suggests VN going to Skyteam
oneworld talking to 9W and IT

I know it would be a long shot but they would compliment each other quit nicely.
Skyteam would give 1W better acces to continental Europe and North America, plus Russia and Africa(KQ). 1W in return would give Skyteam Australia, South America and better covarge of Asia.
Also combined they could sqeeze out *A in certain markets, for example KL toghter with AY could make life very difficult for SK in Scandanvia.

IT is all but certain to join Skyteam they already have code share and FF deals with NW,CO and KL/AF, plus recently IT got there LHR slots through KL.

Rumours are circulating that Royal Jordanian may purchase a stake in Austrian Airlines. If this happens, could be a reasonable addition to the oneworld alliance, expanding its reach into Eastern Europe and Central Asia via Vienna.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/tnBasi...12549220080718

Personally i would like to see Vietnam Airlines to join OW rather than ST due to i personally think that it has more ties with OW rather than ST and will serve OW well as it's first South Eastern Carrier as JAL is on my side too! But who knows!

Didn't somebody post that ST compatibility was a prime requirement in a recent RFP from VN for a new IT system?

This is what the Wikipedia listing has to say on the subject, for what its worth... not sure if this helps or misinforms the discussion here ! (Vietnam Airlines certainly gets a mention here, btw) :-

Possible future OW members

Oneworld has expressed its desire to recruit new member airlines while several airlines have expressed their intention to join the alliance.

* Brussels Airlines - The airline expressed its interest to join one of the major airline alliances, considering it a priority for the airline. However, a potential purchase by Lufthansa may stop it from joining oneworld. The airline has codeshare agreements with American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Mal�v Hungarian Airlines.

* China Eastern Airlines - The airline has been courted by Oneworld and currently codeshares with American Airlines, British Airways and Japan Airlines. However, Air France and China Southern Airlines are lobbying at the airline to join SkyTeam.

* Grand China Airlines - The airline was previously known as Hainan Airlines has expressed interest in joining Oneworld and has codeshare agreements with Japan Airlines and Mal�v Hungarian Airlines.

* S7 Airlines - The airline was in negotiations with British Airways in 2007 to possibly join the alliance in the near future.

* Vietnam Airlines - Current member Japan Airlines has expressed a desire to sponsor Vietnam Airlines for a membership to expand the oneworld network in Southeast Asia. The airline currently codeshares with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas. However, the airline is said to also have discussions about the possibility of joining SkyTeam.

* Canada WestJet - currently in talks with Oneworld to possibly join the alliance in the near future. This would fill the void left by the departure of Canadian Airlines. However, WestJet recently announced a pact with Southwest Airlines which would include codeshare agreements and frequent flyer reciprocity.

.

I'm quite surprised Jet Airways is not in the list ! Air India will join Star Alliance while Kingfisher is said to join Sky Team. Oneworld also needs an Indian carrier thus leaving Jet Airways as the only option.

* Brussels Airlines - The airline expressed its interest to join one of the major airline alliances, considering it a priority for the airline. However, a potential purchase by Lufthansa may stop it from joining oneworld. The airline has codeshare agreements with American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Mal�v Hungarian Airlines.

see press release on the Lufthansa site:

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html...08/852/HOM&s=0