SkyTeam announce UX, KQ, CM, RO entry as Associate airline
 

SkyTeam announced Air Europa, Kenya Airways, COPA, TAROM will join SkyTeam in the next 12 months as Associate airline of SkyTeam.

Four Carriers to Join SkyTeam

Not Impressed
 

I guess this is the path of all future alliance growth as all the "good" airlines are taken. Looking at some of their websites, one qualification will be, I hope, an English version.

Definitely, a ho hum announcement in my book.

Still no South American airline in SkyTeam. I was pretty confident that TAM would be one of the four new associate airlines, given the alliances with KLM & Air France. Disappointing. :td:

So what are the timeframes for these associate airlines to enter the alliance? What are the differences between Associate Airlines? I would've thought KQ could've been a full-fledged alliance partner, no? COPA too! I guess with Star Alliance having two, SkyTeam can now trump it and have double the number!

??
IMHO it's a rather decent bunch of airlines. KQ is a great addition to Skyteam, and UX opens up the Spanish regions and more flights to S. America. The other two aren't heavyweights, but bad airlines they are not.
But the absence of MH and a South American airline are serious gaps that need to be plugged. Now.

It looks like the individual airlines join a full member's FFP, and that carrier helps bring them into the alliance. But I agree, some of these carriers seem a bit large for this. Especially when you look at Blue1, Adria and Croatia Air (*A's regional members). They are all very small and serve a particular region and that region only. COPA makes sense as they were already a OnePass partner, but KQ still puzzles me. Either way, more options and more destinations for SkyTeam can only be good.

CM already uses OnePass as it very own FFP, and KQ used KLM's Flying Dutchman and switched to the joint (KL-AF) Flying Blue alongside with KLM. What exactly puzzles you about KQ?

FYI - Interesting debate on the merits of each in the DL forum if you're interested:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441658

peace,
~Ben~

I wonder if associate airlines can go into full-fledged airline after a proving period. Kenya definitely should be. I'm not sure about Air Europa, the third-biggest airline in Spain (Iberia in oneworld and Spanair in Star Alliance), or TAROM, maybe COPA.

UX is a great addition for me. From my base in BCN it opens many possibilities, and its a decent airline that's growing very fast with new international routes (example, to China direct in 2006, etc).

Smaller airlines are likely to remain associate rather than full-blown partners as it means lower costs for them. KQ and CM are definitely useful additions. Not so sure about RO. As to UX, it will depend on which classes are eligible for earning. I would suspect that the lower fares will not eligible (similar to JK in *A), which would substantially diminish the usefulness of UX as a partner. I seem to recall that earning on UX was pretty limited under the KL FD scheme.

Could you explain the cost differential? How would it be cheaper?

The original press release is no longer available on the skyteam website, but you can find it reproduced here. As I understand it, the requirements for associate membership (in terms of service standards, IT integration, etc...) are less for associate members. Presumably, ST marketing costs are also primarily borne by full members. Whether the lower costs outweigh the absence of voting rights on the ST board is open to question. Interestingly, the fact that ST would only offer MA associate membership, against full membership in OW, was one of the factors pushing MA to go for OW rather than ST (see here).

Based on the SkyTeam press release, I agree with your statement. The press release lists their individual sponsors:

So since Copa is already a part of OnePass, and Kenya is already a part of Flying Dutchman/Flying Blue, does it seem to be a reasonable assumption from this list that Air Europa will adopt Flying Blue and Tarom will adopt MilleMiglia?

Not necessarily. It may make sense for Air Europa to stay independent, FFP-wise, in particular if they want to co-operate with Latin American airlines (such as Aeropostal) outside ST,

Malev also states the following:

I don't make the same analysis and I'm sure Star Alliance doesn't either. They have (regional) members in Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, and soon in Switzerland.

The point for Skyteam of having a block west (AF/KL) and a block east is to have mutual feeding from one to another. AF and KL cannot get much market from east to west themselves, Austrian can. Having routings through Malev (more for southern connection with alitalia...) and CSA (more for northern connection with AF/KL) would have been quite clever.

And that is why i think they offer Tarom associate membership.

I am finally not surprise to see Malev joining oneworld, i'm sure OW made some very good conditions for them. OW has members in the eadges of Europe that one cannot realistically transfer with. Iberia, Finnair, BA... they needed a partner in central europe to relay them to more regional destination and without Malev, it would have been difficult for them, since LH bought LX recently.

What a load of bollocks! I suppose they couldn't think of this "not beneficial" thing when signing a MOU with CSA a year or so ago!!!

Any news on how long can take the associated memebership process? Does it will take the same time for all the four airlines? The MOU with Aeroflot was signed in May, 2004 and we are still waitng...

By 2006, or so they say.
PS And SU hopes to get in in March, 2006

I wonder if the Associate airlines will be able to upgrade to Full-fledged airlines. I still don't think Kenya (or COPA I suppose) should be Associate airlines. I mean, Kenya's operations are more extensive than CSA, aren't they?

What airline is PS? Ukraine Airlines? If so, I didn't know they signed a MOU as well. I wonder how close any of the Chinese airlines are to either of the alliances.

Everything we've been told about the new associates so far is from the same ST press release (pdf) - and it says they'll have to adopt a FFP of a full-fledged member.

PS is short for post scriptum

Haha, I read the quote "PS And SU..." wrong!

South America
 

South America is somewhat serviced by Aeromexico and it's alliances.
http://www.aeromexico.com/usa/englis...nces_list.html

Of course you have the Skyteam alliance (not counting the 4 new ones) and the other ones, well, you have LanChile and Taca that do cover South America, also Mexicana and Aeromexico do this service.

List of airlines in the alliance:

Aerocaribe / Aerocozumel
Aeromar
Air France / KLM
Alitalia
Continental
Czech Airlines
Delta
LanChile
El Al
Korean Air
Mexicana
Northwest
Taca

Joquiroz, welcome to FT (actually, looks like you've been here a while, but now that the ice is broken, hope you post more).

Not very extensive, but there is basic coverage of South America- see http://skyteam.com/EN/aboutSkyteam/d...p/samerica.jsp

That should increase both with the new members and since DL says it want's to increase it's international routing.

No, You read it right. It was written wrong. Punctuation is always nice.
Dave

A year and a half later, UX, KQ and CM reinforce their commitment to join ST - or, as Reuters puts it, "joined" the alliance today.
Looks like Tarom is out

Great! What will this mean for my chances of earning EQMs on KQ flights as a NW WP PE? I'm all ears. :)

Kenya AW Update?
 

As long as I know from UX workers they'll join the "Flying Blue" program.

I was today spotting planes at my airport and one of my colleages told me about the "possibility" of Alitalia leaving the alliance as there are rumours and their newest planes aren't showing the SkyTeam sticker. Does anyone knows something about it?

Does anyone have experience flying Kenya Airways? I am flying with a colleague from Joburg to Dar es Salaam via Niarobi on very early flights and would like to know what to expect. Have you had any problems securing Flying Blue miles and qualifying segments? Thanks

As far as mileage/segment credit, I still have not seen any effective date for SkyTeam membership. So until you see an announcement that Kenya AW is indeed a member of ST, I would not count on frequent flyer credit.

Don't know if this will help.

http://www.kenya-airways.com/kq2/kqd...o.aspx?colm=49

As Flying Blue is the frequent flyer programme of Kenya Airways (it used to by KLM's Flying Dutchman before that) there's no problem earning both award and level miles on flying blue. So for FB cardholders KQ's SkyTeam status does not matter.

The reason KQ uses FB and FD before that is because KLM is one of their main shareholders.

I flew KQ many times last year and I love that airline. They have the best service between NBO and Europe of any airline. The best business class seats too. All my flights were credited just fine to FB. Elite miles too.

What about P5?
 

Will AeroRepublica join Skyteam also? AeroRepublica is the COPA affiliate airline in Colombia and already uses Continental One Pass as FFP

Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways on Track to become SkyTeam Associate Airl
 

Doesn't say when but...
http://catalog.nwa.com/newsline/0207_04C.html

SkyTeam has signed agreements with three airlines -- Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways --indicating the carriers are on track for official Associate Airline status. The agreements are a formal step in the alliance’s Associate process and outline the carriers’ commitment to meet the standards to be recognized as official Associate Airlines.

"SkyTeam's Associate Airline program clearly illustrates the Alliance strategy to develop a global network, with particular emphasis on certain key markets,” said Dominique Patry, SkyTeam steering committee chairman and senior vice president of International Affairs and Alliances, Air France. “Air Europa, Copa and Kenya Airways will give SkyTeam customers access to 25 additional destinations.”

Official signing ceremonies were held on three continents. Each of the Associate Airline candidates was joined by the SkyTeam member airline which is sponsoring its entry into the alliance.

Air Europa
With a fleet of 37 aircraft, Air Europa serves over 9 million passengers annually and flies to 44 destinations in 15 countries (summer schedule 2007), including destinations throughout Spain and Western Europe as well as cities in North Africa and Latin America. Visit Air Europa on the Web at www.aireuropa.com.

Copa Airlines
With a fleet of 30 aircraft, Copa Airlines currently offers approximately 110 daily scheduled flights to 36 destinations in 21 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. In addition, Copa Airlines provides passengers with access to flights to more than 120 other international destinations through codeshare agreements with Continental Airlines and other airlines. Visit Copa Airlines on the Web at www.copaair.com.

Kenya Airways
With a fleet of 21 aircraft, Kenya Airways serves more than 2.5 million passengers annually and flies to 38 destinations in 30 countries, including cities across Africa, as well as Amsterdam, Paris and London and select destinations in Asia, including Dubai, Mumbai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Visit Kenya Airways on the Web at www.kenya-airways.com.

May be in June?
 

"But what really puts Kenya Airways in the league of international travel is the fact that it has just recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SkyTeam; it is expected that they will come into full membership with the international airline alliance by June."
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/ind...id=63599&nav=2

UX FF program will merge into FB in June 15 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=666469)

Any news about CM?

Wouldn't you think that there would be some nice SkyTeam press release instead of these little rumors?

Wouldn't you think there would be some SkyTeam press releases before SU joined? Or before KL, CO and NW did?