Philippine airlines joining oneworld

[anat0l]

The real gap in OW is South America and Africa.

In Africa there is Royal Air Maroc, but it's token contribution. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot left after other already allied carriers are taken out. Maybe Rwandair?

South America is definitely a gap, and once again it's really a case of nothing left for oneworld after everyone else worth it has taken a side. Don't really see oneworld attempting to court and turn any of the major players to (or back to) oneworld, especially when your main regional sponsor would be AA.

 

[anat0l]

Star Alliance already has both Air China and Shenzhen Airlines, I can't imagine why Cathay would want to quit Oneworld for that.

Air China has a decent or major stake in CX, if I recall. That alone has always played on the back of everyone's mind that CX might jump to *A; sometimes you wonder what the back-breaking straw is going to be...

 

[jase05]

In Africa there is Royal Air Maroc

QR has a pretty decent presence in Africa.
Rwandair is pretty much owned by Qatar aren’t they?

 

[AFF Editor]

Philippine Airlines to Join Oneworld is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Philippine Airlines to Join Oneworld

Philippine Airlines has announced it will join Oneworld, becoming the 16th member of the alliance and its second in South-East Asia.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[WilsonM]

QR has a pretty decent presence in Africa.
Rwandair is pretty much owned by Qatar aren’t they?

Yeah they are - IIRC there was a proposal in 2022 for RwandAir to join Oneworld as a Connect partner, but I guess that won't go anywhere now.

 

[elanshin]

Air China has a decent or major stake in CX, if I recall. That alone has always played on the back of everyone's mind that CX might jump to *A; sometimes you wonder what the back-breaking straw is going to be...

They have exactly a stake just under 30% (29.98 i believe right now). They adjusted this recently with the Cathay share buyback. Anything over 30% triggers an automatic takeover bid. At this point in time Swire has no interest in relinquishing control of CX and CA (and Chinese government) seem to have no interest in increasing stake and running CX.

 

[dajop]

In Africa there is Royal Air Maroc, but it's token contribution.

Royal Air Maroc is good for connecting Europe/North America to West Africa and Northern Africa, so taken from a North American/European viewpoint it's probably quite valuable for the alliance. A bit like the role PR will have - which will certainly be niche. Obviously AT not so good for within West Africa, and doesn't touch Southern or Eastern Africa. Colleagues from Kenya and Tanzania travelling to Morocco both went via Paris and Frankfurt, such is the (lack of) connectivity. Africa, is a continent, but like Asia it is huge and has very distinct regions.