India’s Kingfisher Airlines to be part of oneworld from 10 February
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Monday, 19 December 2011: Kingfisher Airlines will become part of oneworld® with effect from Friday 10 February 2012, adding India’s leading carrier to the premier global airline alliance.
It will be the first carrier from the subcontinent to join any of the global airline groups – and the first of three airlines to join oneworld in its biggest membership expansion drive for five years, with airberlin set to follow it on board the alliance shortly afterwards and Malaysia Airlines later in the year.
Kingfisher Airlines received its green light to board oneworld this week after successfully completing a thorough review of its readiness conducted by British Airways, which is sponsoring its entry into the alliance, with the oneworld central team.
So from 10 February 2012, it will be offering oneworld’s full range of services – and substantially expanding the alliance’s network throughout India, one of the fastest growing regions of the world for air travel demand.
For Kingfisher Airlines, joining oneworld will strengthen its competitive offering and its financial position, enabling it to offer customers an unrivalled alliance global network served by partners including some of the best and biggest airlines in the world.
Its addition will extend oneworld’s global coverage to nearly 800 destinations in almost 150 countries, served by a total of almost 8,500 departures a day operated by a combined fleet of more than 2,250 aircraft, carrying 305 million passengers a year, with annual revenues of US$94 billion. With the addition soon of airberlin and later this year Malaysia Airlines, the oneworld network will expand to more than 850 destinations.
oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said: “Kingfisher Airlines will expand oneworld’s network substantially in a key region of growing travel demand, with a carrier that matches our demanding requirements, while enabling Kingfisher Airlines to offer its customers a truly global network on quality partners. We are looking forward to welcoming them to the oneworld alliance in February.”
Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya said: “Kingfisher Airlines takes great pride in its track record for quality and innovation. By becoming part of oneworld in February, we will be flying as part of the world’s leading quality airline alliance – and the first carrier from the subcontinent to be accepted into any of the global airline groups.”
“Becoming part of oneworld will be one of the most significant steps in Kingfisher Airlines’ history. It will enable us to offer our customers a truly global network served by partners who include some of the best known and most admired airlines in the world, while our King Club frequent flyers will have more opportunities to earn and redeem mileage rewards and enjoy all their other benefits. It will also strengthen us financially, through revenues from passengers transferring to our network from our oneworld partners and the cost reduction opportunities the alliance offers.”
When Kingfisher Airlines joins, members of its King Club frequent flyer programme will be able to earn and redeem mileage awards on all oneworld partners – American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and almost 20 affiliated airlines.
King Club King Platinum cardholders will have oneworld Emerald status with its King Club Gold members enjoying oneworld Sapphire status, gaining them access to more than 550 airport lounges worldwide offered by the alliance’s airlines. King Club Silver cardholders will have oneworld Ruby status.
King Club Platinum, Gold and Silver cardholders will soon be sent new membership cards, bearing the oneworld logo, to ensure they receive their alliance benefits from 10 February.
Also from 10 February, the 120 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn and redeem awards and tier status points and receive all other oneworld benefits on Kingfisher Airlines.
Its network – currently serving 54 destinations and nine countries – will from then be covered by oneworld’s full and extensive range of alliance fares and sales products.
It will add more than 40 destinations to the alliance’s network, all of them in its India home, which is the world’s second most populous market and forecast to be the world’s second biggest economy within two decades. Its middle class population is expected to grow tenfold by 2025 – to nearly 600 million.
Currently seven of oneworld’s established airlines – American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian – serve five Indian gateways, in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Kingfisher Airlines was invited to join oneworld in June 2010 after gaining approval from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation to become part of the alliance.
Its alliance implementation programme has represented one of the most extensive projects in its history, with working groups covering some 35 streams of activity. Projects are nearing completion to bring Kingfisher Airlines’ various internal processes and procedures into line with the alliance’s requirements, and extensive employee training and communications programmes are now underway at Kingfisher Airlines and the alliance’s existing members, to ensure they are ready to provide oneworld’s customer services and benefits across the expanded alliance from 10 February.
Meantime, it has implemented frequent flyer links with established oneworld partners American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and S7 ahead of joining the alliance and signed code-sharing agreements with British Airways.
Note
Frequent flyer reciprocity between Kingfisher Airlines and LAN will be implemented shortly after Kingfisher Airlines joins oneworld because of LAN’s impending migration of its main information technology platform.
About Kingfisher Airlines
Since its launch in 2005, Kingfisher Airlines has established itself as India’s leading air carrier in terms of domestic passenger carried, daily flights (with more than 260 daily departures on average currently), customer service quality and innovation.
It is India's only five star airline, as rated by Skytrax, the independent airline quality research organisation. Besides being the first airline in India to offer in-flight entertainment at every seat in its full-service class cabins, Kingfisher Airlines offers Live TV with 16 channels. It has received numerous awards for innovation and customer responsiveness – most recently all three prizes available to carriers from India and Central Asia in the Skytrax Airline of the Year 2011 awards.
The airline launched its first international routes in September 2008 and now serves oneworld hubs Bangkok, Hong Kong, London Heathrow and Singapore. Internationally, it also currently serves Colombo, Dubai, Dhaka and Kathmandu. In total, it flies to 54 destinations worldwide – 46 of them in India – in nine countries, with its main hubs at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
It carried 12 million guests in its financial year to end 31 March 2011. Its fleet currently comprises 64 modern aircraft. It employs 7,500 staff. During its latest financial year, to end March 2011, it generated revenues totalling US$ 1.4 billion. Kingfisher Airlines is part of the UB Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates with diverse interests and a global presence.
About oneworld
oneworld is the world’s premier global airline alliance. It brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business – American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines, and around 20 affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru. airberlin, India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Malaysia Airlines are on track to join in 2012. Mexicana is an inactive member. Between them, these airlines:
· Serve more than 850 airports in nearly 150 countries, with more than 10,000 daily departures.
· Offer more than 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
· Carry almost a million passengers a day on a combined fleet of more than 2,500 aircraft.
· Generate more than US$ 100 billion annual revenues in total.
oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld also offers more alliance fares than any of its competitors.
oneworld was named the Best Airline Alliance by Global Traveler in its GT Tested Reader Survey 2011 Awards for the second year running and the World’s Leading Airline Alliance in the 2010 World Travel Awards, retaining that title for the eighth consecutive year.
For further information, please contact:
| oneworld | |
| Michael Blunt V.P. Corp Comms |
+44 7711 997487
[email protected] http://www.oneworld.com |
| Kingfisher Airlines | |
| Prakash Mirpuri VP Corporate Comms |
+91 22 2282 4156 [email protected] http://www.flykingfisher.com/media-center/press-releases.aspx |
| American Airlines | |
| Corporate Communications | +1 817 967 1577 [email protected] http://www.aa.com/newsroom |
| British Airways | |
| Press Office | +44 20 8738 5100 [email protected] http://www.ba.com/press |
| Cathay Pacific | |
| Elin Wong Comms Manager Overseas |
+852 2747 5362 [email protected] www.cathaypacific.com |
| Finnair | |
| Corporate Communications |
+358 981 84970 |
| Iberia | |
| Communications | +34 91 587 7462 [email protected] www.iberia.com |
| JAL | |
| Szehunn Yap PR |
+81 3 5460 3109 [email protected] http://www.jal.com/en/press |
| LAN | |
|
Felipe Castillo, Corp Comms Daniela Riutort, Corp Comms |
+562 565 3976 |
| Malév | |
| Marta Rona, Director of Communications |
+36 706 697651 |
| S7Airlines | |
| Anna Bazhina, Press Service | +7 903 288 8508 [email protected] www.s7.ru |
| Qantas | |
| Corporate Communications | +61 2 9691 3473 [email protected] www.qantas.com |
| Royal Jordanian | |
| Iman Rihani or Basel Kilani PR |
+962 6 520 2060 / 2062 [email protected] / [email protected] www.rj.com |
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