The Newest Airlines to Join Oneworld & Star Alliance

Changes are afoot at the global airline alliances – Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam.

On 22 April 2026, Hawaiian Airlines became the newest Oneworld member. ITA Airways, which left the SkyTeam alliance in 2025, joined Star Alliance on 1 April 2026.

It follows Fiji Airways and Oman Air joining the Oneworld alliance, and Lufthansa City Airlines joining Star Alliance, in 2025.

As airlines switch alliances, some have even offered status matches to lure in flyers who would rather not make the switch.

Here’s what you need to know about the recent and upcoming changes to the global airline alliances…

Hawaiian Airlines joined Oneworld

Boosting Oneworld’s presence in the Pacific even further, Hawaiian Airlines joined Oneworld on 22 April 2026. This is happening as a result of Hawaiian Airlines merging with existing Oneworld member Alaska Airlines. The two brands will remain separate, but all flights are now being operated under Alaska Airlines’ “AS” IATA code.

Qantas already started offering Classic Reward redemptions on Hawaiian Airlines last year, as part of a broader frequent flyer partnership.

Virgin Australia’s previous partnership with Hawaiian Airlines ended in June 2025.

ITA Airways switched from SkyTeam to Star Alliance

The Lufthansa Group is currently in the process of buying Italian flag carrier ITA Airways (formerly Alitalia). Lufthansa is a key member of Star Alliance, so it’s no surprise that ITA Airways has also now become a Star Alliance member.

As part of this process, ITA Airways suddenly announced in February 2025 that it was leaving SkyTeam, effective immediately. The airline then spent a bit over a year outside of any alliance, before joining Star Alliance on 1 April 2026.

As the airline joined Star Alliance, the ITA Airways Volare loyalty program also shut down. Volare members have been invited to join the Lufthansa Miles&More program instead, which is now also the loyalty program for ITA Airways – but this is not an automatic process.

Juneyao Airlines to become full Star Alliance member

China’s Juneyao Airlines has been a “Star Alliance Connecting Partner” since 2017. This is similar to the Oneworld Connect concept, which sounds great in theory but can be confusing and frustrating for passengers who don’t get to enjoy the full alliance benefits.

Recently, there have been reports that Juneyao is preparing to be fully integrated into Star Alliance. That would be a welcome development.

Star Alliance will eventually lose Asiana Airlines

Asiana Airlines, based in Korea, has been a long-standing member of Star Alliance. But it’s currently in the process of merging with SkyTeam’s Korean Air. Once this happens, the Asiana brand will disappear and the airline will no longer be part of Star Alliance as it will be absorbed into Korean Air.

Other airlines have expressed interest in joining Oneworld

German airline Condor revealed last year that it was in talks with American Airlines regarding cooperation between the two carriers. This has also fuelled strong rumours that the airline is considering joining the Oneworld alliance – something that the German Aerospace Center has even explicitly recommended to Condor.

According to reports, this won’t happen at least until Condor has repaid the debt it owes to the German government. That is due in September 2026. But after that point, it’s a very real possibility.

Condor joining Oneworld would be a win-win for both the airline and the alliance. It would help Condor to compete better in the German market with the larger Lufthansa Group, while also helping the Oneworld alliance to fill the gap in central Europe left by Airberlin when it went out of business almost a decade ago.

In the coming years, Qatar Airways may also sponsor RwandAir to join the Oneworld alliance. Taiwan’s Starlux, Canada’s Porter Airlines and MIAT Mongolian Airlines too have expressed their desire to join Oneworld.

Where Oneworld really needs a new member, though, is South America. Since LATAM Airlines left the alliance in 2020, there have been no Oneworld airlines based in South America at all.

Unfortunately, there are no obvious candidates as LATAM Airlines is tied up with Delta, and the other major network carriers – avianca, Copa Airlines and Aerolíneas Argentinas – are already in other alliances.

Brazil’s GOL Airlines could be a useful addition, and already has a strong partnership with American Airlines. But GOL is primarily a low-cost airline, so alliance membership might not make sense for it. And it’s probably going to be pretty busy over the coming years as it merges with Azul, another major Brazilian airline.

Which other airlines could join an alliance?

There’s always lots of speculation about other airlines potentially joining an alliance. For example, there have been rumours for years that China Southern could seek to join Oneworld – although Cathay Pacific might block this. China Southern left SkyTeam at the end of 2018.

And I’ve lost count of the number of times people have suggested Virgin Australia should join Star Alliance.

For what it’s worth, I think Virgin Australia would make a great addition to Star Alliance. Any alliance membership would also make Velocity Frequent Flyer significantly more attractive to genuine frequent flyers, and would help to make Virgin Australia much more competitive against Qantas.

Alas, for now, Virgin seems to be happy enough with its complicated bilateral partnership structure – which arguably works much better for Velocity than for its members. I think this is unlikely to change until at least such time that Bain Capital sells its ownership stake in the airline.