Kingfisher to join OW.

[drron]

Better news for OW-
oneworld - News

India's leading domestic carrier and only five-star airline, Kingfisher Airlines, is lining up to join oneworld® after signing a memorandum of understanding as its first step towards full membership of the world's leading quality airline alliance, subject to Indian regulatory approval.
The agreement was concluded at a meeting between Kingfisher Airlines' Chairman Vijay Mallya and Chief Executives from oneworld's 11 existing member airlines, which include some of the best and biggest names in the industry.

 

[munitalP]

That is good news and potentially opens up a heap of new ports of call for Mr & Mrs munitalP

 

[serfty]

Wonderful news!

India?s Kingfisher Airlines set to join oneworld alliance

Aside from India among other destinations they fly to BKK, DXB, SIN, CMB, LHR & HKG.

 

[futaris]

Kingfisher to join OW - FlyerTalk Forums

oneworld - News

I wonder if Jet Airways will be an AAdvantage partner and QANTAS FF partner for much longer.

 

[serfty]

Kingfisher to join OW - FlyerTalk Forums

oneworld - News

I wonder if Jet Airways will be an AAdvantage partner and QANTAS FF partner for much longer.

Air France is a Qantas partner ...

 

[Keith009]

Nice! Seems a quality carrier from what I've read.

 

[simongr]

Nice - I wonder if this will make my trips to India smoother... Currently I fly SYD-HKG-DEL or SYD-HKG-BKK-DEL with long stops in either DEL or BKK

 

[somebol]

Nice! Seems a quality carrier from what I've read.

their premium cabins are pretty luxurious and I think they serve your fav champers as well...

 

[Flying Fox]

Good news. From what I have seen, their products look pretty impressive.

Actually so do the flight attendants....

 

[somebol]

Nice - I wonder if this will make my trips to India smoother... Currently I fly SYD-HKG-DEL or SYD-HKG-BKK-DEL with long stops in either DEL or BKK

yep... IT is well connected to asia bom/del - hkg/bkk/sin and are looking to expand to the US as well.

BTW... IT is known for its air hostesses....

 

[futaris]

So now Oneworld has most of the BRIC countries covered (domestically):

Brazil - somewhat with LAN Airlines
Russia - S7 Airlines
India - Kingfisher Airlines
China - Dragonair

And I guess, BRIMC
Mexico - Mexicana

And Korea is SkyTeam / Star Alliance territory.

 

[dajop]

So now Oneworld has most of the BRIC countries covered (domestically):
China - Dragonair
Brazil - somewhat with LAN Airlines

I would hardly call China or Brazil being "covered" (domestically) by Dragonair or LAN. Even "somewhat" - apart from Rio and Sao Paulo, LAN only codeshares on TAM to Brazilian ports - I don't think these are oneworld flights.

In my opinon if you don't fly between the two biggest or most important cities in a country = you don't "cover" that country domestically. Dragonair do have a lot of chinese destinations, but the main problem they don't and can't operate direct services between the larger mainland Chinese cities - and the HKG hub is not convenient geographically for such flights either.

However good to see India getting good coverage in an alliance. From what I've heard I'd take Kingfisher over star's alternative.

 

[Keith009]

HKG isn't a particularly convenient hub for China I think. OW still needs something there, and has hinted in the past that they want a mainland Chinese carrier. Note the press release clearly states that Kingfisher has filled one of the few "remaining spaces" in the alliance which to me indicates partner negotiations/scouting are ongoing and I'd be surprised if one of these spots isn't for a mainland Chinese carrier. If their recent recruiting patterns are anything to go by (JAL excepted - probably due to the strong Asian feed for AA there), it'd be a carrier with a good presence in its region yet with only a modest international network, thus acting as a good feeder carrier to CX/QF/BA/AA etc.

 

[serfty]

China Eastern?

MU is already a Partner Airline of CX with the ability to earn Asiamiles.

 

[kezsco]

Slots will always be open to quality carriers who dominate their own little region. Oneworld have always been criticised for not having Africa, Brazil or China covered.

Until recently, that criticism extended to their lack of Russia and India.

To claim that there are few remaining slots is just spin & marketing. Might be for the benefit of MU who are currently weighing up their options.

They would never hang the "no vacancy" sign. If AC, JJ, KQ, OZ or some other key regional carrier defected, then OW will definitely consider it.

 

[Keith009]

To claim that there are few remaining slots is just spin & marketing.

Their approach/spin/marketing has always been about avoiding overlaps and intra-alliance competition. The claim that there's only a few spots left first surfaced in an interview with their CEO last year who reckoned the alliance is more or less complete and outlined a few targetted regions (from memory China was mentioned) from which they hoped to plug the gaps. That is not to say they won't be opportunistic when the need arises of course.

TBH I won't be surprised if they'd recruited another somewhat boutique carrier in China rather than one of the majors. Their recent recruits seem to indicate this (RJ, MA, S7, MX, IT) and are consistent with the "less is more" approach. Something like Shanghai Airlines would be an ideal fit if they weren't already a part of *A. Yes MU might already have links to CX and is often speculated to join OW - but similar stuff have been said about 9W...

It is fun to speculate.

 

[drron]

China Eastern is a wonder.it has codeshares with 4 Skyteam,5 OW and 3 star airlines.It has just completed the takeover of Shanghai Airlines so whether they stay in Star is moot.
Recently SQ tried to get a stake but CX and Air China basically scuppered that but recent business reports say these 2 are now combining to compete against China Eastern's cargo division.
MU also have extensive codeshares with AA so maybe JALs recent decision may favor them joining OW.There was one report suggesting they would make an alliance decision by mid Feb-but that has come and gone.
China Eastern to decide alliance in mid-Feb
However MU also needs more capital and SQ is still in the picture so I guess they are waiting on that first.

 

[dajop]

TBH I won't be surprised if they'd recruited another somewhat boutique carrier in China rather than one of the majors. Their recent recruits seem to indicate this (RJ, MA, S7, MX, IT) and are consistent with the "less is more" approach. ...
It is fun to speculate.

Well Hainan Airlines would seem to fit this sort of mould, they seem to get good reviews on Skytrax, FWIW, and their hubs have good spread across China. Also for NA, they fly to Seattle and apparently soon to be HNL which I guess adds transpac options. Wikipedia mentioned they "applied" for oneworld in 2007 so don't know what happened there.

Yes, is fun to speculate.

 

[sr81]

Anybody know what booking class Kingfisher First falls into? They market it as a business plus product and I would like to think that the earn and burn would be the same as J.

I would be disapointed if they called this First like AA domestic First.

Anyway, only time will tell but great to have a new member that serves the sub-continent.

 

[moa999]

Booking classes on the A320 First domestic are JCDI so would expect it is more likely to be classed as business within QFF.

But until IT is added to the QFF Terms and Conditions page it is all speculation.

I would presume that IT may become a points (but not SC) earning partner with QF prior to its full joining of oneworld (although this hasn't happened to date with S7)