JAL eyes Oneworld
Oneworld is set to recruit the largest carrier in Asia Pacific, the second new member to join the airline alliance this month.
Japan Airlines (JAL) would be the largest carrier in the alliance in terms of group revenue, and would join American Airlines and British Airways as the alliance's largest three airline members, according to other measures such as fleet size and route network.
Five Oneworld members already operate in Japan, but the move by JAL, which is still subject to the necessary agreements and procedures, would bring a 10 per cent expansion to the Oneworld network, adding 68 destinations including 56 in Japan and five in China.
JAL already operates to seven Oneworld hubs: London Heathrow, New York JFK, Hong Kong, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, Singapore and Sydney, and has bilateral agreements in place with six alliance carriers: American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific and LAN.
As reported by Businesstraveller.com last week, Royal Jordanian made history as the first carrier from the Middle East region to enter a global airline alliance, and in May Hungarian carrier Malev started proceedings to join the alliance.
Other existing members of Oneworld are Finnair and Aer Lingus.
Report by Ginny McGrath