Kingfisher Airlines Joins Oneworld Alliance
Kingfisher Airlines is now a member elect of the Oneworld Alliance, which has 11 full airline members. The chairman and chief executive of the carrier, Vijay Mallya, signed a formal deal at the World Air Transport Summit in Berlin with the other 12 alliance members. This comes after a memorandum of understanding was announced in February between the alliance and airline.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation granted approval for Kingfisher Airlines to join after only weeks of the airline filing a request, allowing the parties to quickly move to complete a formal membership. The Oneworld Alliance sponsor of the carrier is British Airways, which means the British carrier will mentor and support the Indian airline during the joining program. A team of experts has already visited with Kingfisher Airlines experts to start the program.
The joining of Kingfisher Airlines with the Oneworld Alliance will link the group of carriers’ unrivaled network with India’s extensive domestic network. This will add 56 cities to the alliance’s map. It will also expand the alliance’s global network to over 800 destinations across almost 150 countries. Combined, the alliance will now have a fleet of 2,350 planes that will operate about 9,000 flights every day and carry around 340 million travelers every year.
Meanwhile, some of the members of the Oneworld Alliance have already begun creating bilateral co-operations with Kingfisher Airlines. For example, British Airways has announced a code-share deal with the Indian airline, which will mean both airlines’ flights will add the other’s flight code. Details about the agreement will be released closer to its launch.
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