New Delhi, February 24: Private carrier Kingfisher Airlines on Tuesday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to join a global alliance among 11 carriers called ‘Oneworld’ and has filed an application with the civil aviation ministry for the necessary approvals.
The process normally takes around 18 months and Kingfisher hopes to be part of this global pact from next year, the airline stated. With a market share of 22.2%, Kingfisher Airlines is the first private carrier to announce its decision to join a global alliance, OneWorld.
Earlier, in 2006, Air India had announced that it will join the Star Alliance, which is a global network of 17 airlines linking 855 airports in 155 countries.
Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya said, “Becoming part of Oneworld would be one of the significant steps so far and is in line with our vision to become one of the world’s top airlines.” He further said the alliance will strengthen the airline financially, through revenues from passengers transferring to Kingfisher’s network from the airline’s Oneworld partners and will also avail cost reduction offers.
Global interline packs like Oneworld and Star Alliance entail several benefits to member carriers like improved product offering, better service standards, access to new markets and premium customers and partnership with leading global carriers.
The pacts also allow sharing of airport lounges and synchronisation of flight schedules, which will permit seamless travel for a passenger on a single air ticket, even if it requires flying several carriers on a single journey.
Kingfisher’s move will add 58 cities to the Oneworld map, all of them in India, and also expand its network to 800 destinations in 150 countries. The combined fleet size will be of 2,350 aircraft, operating some 9,000 flights a day to ferry 340 million passengers, annually.
Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian already serve five gateways in India between them – Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Kingfisher was launched in 2005 and now has an average of 383 daily departures. It launched its first international routes in September 2008.
—-Agencies