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An airline alliance is an agreement between two or more Airlines to cooperate for the foreseeable future on a substantial level. The degree of cooperation differs between alliances. The three largest alliances are the Star Alliance , SkyTeam and Oneworld . BENEFITS/COSTS Benefits can consist of: ;An extended and optimised network: This is often realised through Code Sharing agreements. Many alliances started as only a code sharing network. ;Cost reduction: This can include sharing of
;Traveller benefits: Benefits for the traveller can be:
;Traveller disadvantages: Disadvantages for the traveller might be:
HURDLES TO TAKE The abilities for airlines to form an alliance are often restricted by laws and regulations or subject to approval by authorities. Anti-trust Laws play a large role. Sometimes political quid pro quo between governments is at hand. Also landing rights may not be owned by the airlines themselves but by the nation in which their head office resides. If an airline loses its national identity by merging to a large extent with a foreign company, existing agreements may be declared void by a country which objects to the merger. The first large alliance which is still functioning started in 1989 , when Northwest and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines agreed to code sharing on a large scale. A huge step was taken in 1992 when The Netherlands signed the first Open Skies agreement with the United States, in spite of objections uttered by the European Union authorities. This gave both countries unrestricted landing rights on each others' soil. Normally landing rights are granted for a fixed number of flights per week to a fixed destination. Each adjustment takes a lot of negotiating, often between governments rather than between the companies involved. The United States was so pleased with the independent position that the Dutch took versus the E.U. that it granted anti-trust immunity to the alliance between Northwest and KLM. Other alliances would struggle for years to overcome transnational barriers or still do so. GLOBAL PLAYERS The three largest alliances are:
Network strengths are continents or regions where listed airlines have one or more hubs or a major presence in several destinations. Network weaknesses are continents or regions with no hubs and few (if any) flights for any airline in the alliance. As the table shows, the three alliances combined fly 58% of all passengers travelling each year. |
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