oneworld marks its 20th anniversary, adds benefits

oneworld marks its 20th anniversary with a number of significant events in store for future development. The Alliance has grown from the initial four airlines in 1999.

Timeline to 20th anniversary

oneworld was launched on 1st February 1999 with four founding members. American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay
Pacific Airways and Qantas were the initial members.

• On 1st September 1999 they were joined by Finnair and Iberia.
• LATAM (then LanChile) joined on 1st June 2000.
• Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian became members on 1st April 2007.
• S7 Airlines joined the Alliance on 15th November 2010.
• Malaysia Airlines became a member on 1st February 2013.
• Qatar Airways came in on 30th October 2013.
• SriLankan Airlines is the most recent of the current members and they joined on 1st May 2014.
• Royal Air Maroc was invited to join the alliance in December 2018.
  • This is the first African airline to join the grouping.

Another 30 airlines linked to the alliance’s full members are oneworld affiliate members, offering its full range of services and benefits. December 2018 saw the announcement of Fiji Airways as the first oneworld connect partner.

Collectively, oneworld Alliance airlines currently:

• Serve 1,100 airports in 180 territories, with 14,000 daily departures.
• Carry almost 550 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of 3,500 aircraft.
• Generate US$ 135 billion annual total revenues.

On-going developments

As part of their plan the global airline alliance has unveiled a number of major customer and airline benefits.

These include

Application of Digital revolution initiatives

Customers flying on connecting flights on oneworld airlines will have seamless connectivity when flying on multi-sector, multi-air journeys. 

• Members can to use their preferred airline’s mobile app or website to
  • check-in
  • obtain boarding passes
  • track baggage
  • receive flight updates
  • pay for additional services

To be implemented progressively from 2019.

Improved customer experience

oneworld-branded and managed airport lounges to be rolled out at key airports with the first to be unveiled later in 2019. 

• This increased level of alliance co-location projects will be located at a number of key airports around the world, offering more space and service.

More member airlines

• Royal Air Maroc will join the alliance in 2020.
• The alliance’s first new membership platform, oneworld connect is designed to accommodate smaller, regional airlines in mind. 
  • Fiji Airways will be fully implemented as first oneworld connect partner by March 2019 increasing the alliance network to 1,100 destinations in 180 territories

More oneworld connect partners are in the wings to be signed, from the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Easier corporate sales

A new approach to corporate sales will enable oneworld to respond much faster to requests for alliance contracts. The process has been trialed over the past six months, with many of the world’s biggest multinational corporations signing up for corporate accounts directly with the alliance rather than a series of individual airline arrangements.

21st Century branding

When oneworld first emerged, very few airlines offered online bookings. Smartphones social media  and did not exist and airline fares included everything. Low-cost carriers were in their infancy.

New oneworld is responding to the challenges with fresh, contemporary and more inclusive market positioning. This reflects the diversity of the alliance’s member airlines and their customers, with the tagline “Travel Bright” and includes a new oneworld.com website.

oneworld members have carried a total of 7 billion customers since 1999. This is equivalent to today’s entire global population.