China Southern in SkyTeam
 

I guess it will be official very soon.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040822/airli...outhern_1.html

China Southern aims to join global airline alliance

Now if only their was sufficient traffic to justify daily LAX to CAN flights.

Has anyone heard a projected start date ?

No, but they're a welcome addition. The fall looks great for Skyteam with the addition of China Southern, KLM, Continental, Northwest, and Aeroflot. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Malev, Malaysian and some other surprises.

When are we going to get a good carrier from the South Pacific or South America?

China Southern and Aeroflot are unlikely to join before 2005. KL, CO and NW are scheduled to become members in a few weeks

More SkyTeam
 

And maybe Kenya Airways, "The Pride of Africa", sometime in the not too distant future.

Who else do you propose? Continental Air Micronesia is as dominant as it gets in the South Pacific and will become part of ST when CO joins next month. Since Qantas and Air New Zealand are locked in other alliances and unavailable, I'm not sure what "good carrier from the South Pacific" that leaves.

well there is air tahiti nui, who already has relationships (i believe) with af and dl. their network is limited, but they do fly to nz and oz.

as for malaysian, it looks like they will be indicating their interest soon:

(it clearly won't be star, and oneworld doesn't make nearly as much sense as skyteam.)

While CO's Air Micronesia dominates Guam and some of the other islands they do not serve Australia or New Zealand, so their addition to Skyteam doesn't help in that department.

Who else do I propose ... well, Hawaiian Airlines, Phillipine Airlines, Air Niugini, and Air Pacific would be a good place to start.

I've also pondered the possibility of Hawaiian or even Alaska eventually joining ST, especially given their current relationships with CO and NW. DL has long been the only major without a code sharing arrangement with either Hawaiian or Aloha. That said, though, I don't think Hawaiian, Alaska or the others you mention (with the possible exception of PAL) are large enough to make full membership in ST viable for them. I agree with the other posters that Malaysian would make a great addition.

I believe the real plum for ST would be JAL. They are by far the largest airline out there still uncommitted to an alliance. I'm not sure KE would welcome their membership, but I sure would and they have great coverage throughout the world. I hope someone in ST is chasing them hard.

Do you mean to tell me that Air Mike in the last few days/weeks stopped serving Cairns after many decades of service?

i'm really surprised that you have not mentioned copa or emirates? maybe ST members can generate enough demand for copa to expand better into south america? also, emirates is in a key location for access to africa and europe from SE and south central asia ... do i hear RTW tickets? :p

Copa
 

With the COPA Continental connection, it would seem that COPA membership in ST should occur as normal and logical in the chain of event. However, there is nothing "normal" and “logical” about the airline business these days.

CO does fly into Cairns.

SkyTeam Signs Agreement With China Southern Airlines
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040828/cgsa001a_1.html

It would be nice to have Air Tahiti Nui join ST. I believe they have a close association with AF already. Since most ST members offer only 2 cabin service (J or Y), I'd like to see a carrier that offers F/J/Y join the team.