Japan Airlines will join Oneworld early next year after accepting a formal letter of invitation from the alliance yesterday.
JAL is the largest airline in Asia Pacific in terms of both revenue and passengers carried and is the largest airline yet to join a global alliance.
Five other members of the JAL Group will also join Oneworld as affiliates – JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-Air and Japan Transocean Air.
JAL already has interline e-ticketing links in place with American Airlines and British Airways. It expects to connect with Cathay Pacific within the next few months and with the rest of the alliance members by early next year.
Malév and Royal Jordanian are also set to join the alliance early in 2007.
Malev has interline e-ticketing in place with four existing Oneworld carriers – British Airways, American, Cathay Pacific and LAN, and expects to link up with Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qantas this month, followed by Finnair next month, and the rest by early 2007.
Royal Jordanian has delayed implementing its interline links until moving its IT systems to a new platform. With this now underway, it expects to begin links next month, starting with British Airways.
In the months ahead, all three new partners will launch employee training and communications programmes.
American Airlines chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said: “Adding Japan Airlines, together with Malév and Royal Jordanian, is one of the most significant developments since oneworld’s launch seven years ago.”
By Bev Fearis
