aword from oneworld: Janvier 2003

30 janvier 2003

ANGOLA BECOMES 135TH COUNTRY ON THE oneworld MAP: Angola has joined the oneworld™ network with British Airways launching its new weekly service to the African country's capital, Luanda, using Boeing 777s. The UK airline and its franchise partners currently operate some 330 flights a week to 30 destinations in 21 African countries. Together, oneworld's eight member airlines now serve 135 countries and territories – more than any other airline alliance.

QANTAS TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO AA'S SECOND HUB CHICAG Qantas is to launch its first services to American Airlines' second base Chicago from the end of March, in the latest step by oneworld members to improve links between their main hubs, making it easier for passenger to transfer across one another's networks. It will serve O'Hare three times a week from Melbourne, via Los Angeles, providing passengers with the fastest travel time and only through-flight from Australia to the Windy City.

BA CITIEXPRESS TO ADD A THIRD LONDON AIRPORT TO NETWORK: Another London airport is to join the oneworld network with affiliate British Airways CitiExpress launching services from London City. It will start flying RJ100 regional jets from the airport, the closest to the centre of the UK capital, in April with an initial three routes – Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Glasgow. The British Airways regional subsidiary is, however, withdrawing from the UK regional airports of Cardiff and Leeds/Bradford by the end of March.

BA TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO KRAKOW AND UP HELSINKI FREQUENCIES: Krakow, in Poland, is to join the oneworld network through a new British Airways service. It will offer three flights a week from London Gatwick from the end of March. The airline is also adding three more weekly frequencies between its Heathrow hub and oneworld partner Finnair's Helsinki home, making it easier to connect between the partners' networks.

AFFILIATE BMED TO ATTACH TASHKENT TO oneworld NETWORK: Tashkent will join the oneworld network this summer, with affiliate member British Mediterranean, which flies in the colours of British Airways under a franchise agreement, launching services to the Uzbekistan city, flying Airbus A320s via Yerevan.

AER LINGUS TO RESUME BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON FLIGHTS: Aer Lingus plans to resume direct services to Baltimore/Washington from Dublin and Shannon from 30 March, five times a week, taking to five the number of US gateways served by the airline.

GB AIRWAYS EYES ANOTHER TWO SPANISH DESTINATIONS: oneworld affiliate GB Airways, which flies in the colours of British Airways under a franchise agreement, is to launch services to another two destinations in Spain from late March - Girona, in the north of the country, and Mahon, in Menorca. Both will be served from London Gatwick.

QANTAS EXTENDS UP-GRADED CITYFLYER SERVICE TO PERTH: Qantas has extended its Cityflyer service to Perth. With flights operated by the airline's new Airbus A330s, it features what the Australian airline describes as an "international style" of in-flight service on board, with enhanced catering. Cityflyer links Perth and Sydney seven times a day, with eight frequencies between the Western Australian city and Melbourne, and two Brisbane flights.

AMERICAN TO CONSOLIDATE TERMINALS AT DALLAS: American Airlines and its regional affiliate American Eagle are switching terminals at Dallas/Fort Worth from 1 February, making their combined operation at their largest hub more seamless and customer friendly. American's own services will be consolidated at terminals A and C At the same time, American Eagle will move its entire regional jet operation from its satellite terminal and gates at Terminal A to Terminal B. American Eagle will continue to operate turboprop flights from its satellite terminal.

QANTAS FLIES ITS FIRST AIRBUS – AND THE WORLD'S FIRST 747-400ER: Qantas has become the first airline in the world to operate the new Boeing 747-400ER commercially, with its newest aircraft operating between the oneworld hubs of Sydney and Los Angeles. The extended-range aircraft features larger cabin baggage bins, improved bathroom facilities and the award-winning, state-of-the-art Qantas "total entertainment" system in all cabins.

The Australian carrier also taken delivery of its first Airbus aircraft. It has 13 A330s on order, with the first now flying in a 300-seat, two-class configuration on key Cityflyer routes between Sydney and Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. They are the first aircraft fitted with Airbus' new cabin interior, featuring sculptured walls and higher ceilings to provide more elbow and headroom, "intelligent" lighting systems throughout the cabin to create a relaxing and welcoming environment, the largest overhead storage space of any domestic aircraft, "millennium business class" seats and international-standard "slimline" economy class seats.

CATHAY TAKES DELIVERY OF FIRST AIRBUS A340-600: Cathay Pacific has taken delivery of its first Airbus A340-600 – the first Asian carrier to add the ultra-long-range variant to its fleet. The A340-600, the world's longest commercial airliner, can operate non-stop flights with full loads throughout the year from Hong Kong to virtually any major destination in the world – including the east coast of the USA and all major airports in western Europe.

IBERIA TO GROW BY ALMOST A QUARTER IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS: Iberia will grow by almost a quarter during the next three years, as new runways open at its Madrid and Barcelona hubs and a new passenger terminal completed at the former. To support the airline's expansion, its Board has approved Euro 1,5 billion of investment in new and replacement aircraft. It will raise capacity next year by 4 per cent, by 6 per cent in 2004 and then by 12 per cent the following year – giving 22 per cent cumulatively during the three-year period.

oneworld IN BRIEF: oneworld brings together some of the best known, highest quality names in the airline business – American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LanChile, Finnair and Aer Lingus. oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own – a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. Together, its members serve more countries than any other alliance – 135 territories and more than 550 destinations. oneworld offers more alliance fare products, serving more markets, than all its competitors together. Its members' 1 900 aircraft operate nearly 8 700 flights a day. It was named the world's Best Airline Alliance by some of the world's most frequent flyers at the 2002 Business Traveller Awards, believed to be the first award for this sector of the travel industry