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.

 

[moa999]

Air China has a decent or major stake in CX, if I

Air China owns 27.1% of Cathay , behind Swire Pacific with 45%, worth about US$2.75bn.

But Cathay Pacific also owns 15.1% of Air China worth about US$2.3bn
Chinese Govt owns 53.46% of Air China (As well as 66% of China Southern and 60% of China Eastern)

 

[Mwenenzi]

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.

No date has been given for the full integration, although it’ll likely be towards the end of 2027/first half of 2028. IT will need to be integrated, and Philippine Airlines may have to create an entirely new status tier above its own Premier Elite tier, to have a Oneworld Emerald equivalent.

From web - blog site aviationweek . com
PAL CEO Talks Outlook And Joining Oneworld | Aviation Week

RIO DE JANEIRO—The oneworld global alliance is expanding its presence in Asia with Philippine Airlines (PAL) planning to join next year.

“I hope to integrate Philippine Airlines into oneworld sometime in 2027 so we can officially have them as part of our offering to customers,” oneworld CEO Olé Orvér told ATW during a media briefing at the IATA AGM in Rio de Janeiro. PAL serves 29 destinations within the Philippines plus 40 international cities.
<snip>

Others have taken 12-18-24-36 months to join OW. Not many(any?) have joined on the date first suggested.
To me more chance of joining by 31 Dec 2027 (at best) than 01 Jan 2027.

AS & QR are full frequent flyer partners of PR now. Also codeshare with some other OW airlines. So the commercial and ff templates exist.