aword from oneworld: June 2005

oneworld airlines take top honours in World Airline Awards: oneworld^TM airlines have again taken more honours than carriers in other alliances in the latest industry awards - with Cathay Pacific taking the overall top prize.

In the World Airline Awards, which organiser Skytrax claims are based on the world's largest survey of passengers, oneworld's eight carriers took nine awards, with three runners-up placings. Star's 16 members took just one award and five runners-up positions. SkyTeam's nine partners also received only one top place, with three shortlistings.

Cathay Pacific was named Airline of the Year and picked up top places as Best Airline in Asia and Best First Class. British Airways, in fifth position in the overall Airline of the Year listing, also collected three trophies - for Best Business Class, Best Transatlantic and Best in Europe. Qantas, which took second place as Airline of the Year, took two top prizes - as Best Transpacific and Best in Australasia. LAN was named Best in South America. Finnair was judged third Best in Europe (with unaligned PGA Portugalia between it and first place BA).

SkyTrax said it received more than 12,3 million eligible nominations in its survey, with votes cast by 94 different nationalities from June 2004 to May 2005.

oneworld itself won both the international awards for airline alliances presented in 2004 - voted the world's best airline alliance by readers of Business Traveller magazine and the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the second year running in the latest World Travel Awards.

For the full results of Skytrax's World Airline Awards, see http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/airline-05-regional.htm

Ireland's Knock to join oneworld network: Knock, in Ireland, is to join the oneworld network from 22 July with affiliate Loganair, which flies as a British Airways franchisee launching flights between the airport and alliance hub Dublin, using 34-seat Saab 340Bs.

Welcome on board, Wollongong: Wollongong joined the oneworld network this month with affiliate QantasLink launching daily Dash 8 flights between the New South Wales south coast city's Illawarra Regional Airport (WOL) and Melbourne.

Finnair cuts four hours off flight time between hubs Helsinki and Hong Kong: Finnair is slicing four hours off the current fastest flight time between its Helsinki home and oneworld's Hong Kong hub by upgrading the service to non-stop, rather than flying via Bangkok. This service will continue throughout the summer season.

BA becomes third partner to serve Shanghai: British Airways has become the third oneworld carrier to serve Shanghai - and added flights to Sofia from London Gatwick, in addition to its established service to the Bulgarian capital from London Heathrow. It is now serving Shanghai from London Heathrow. oneworld partners Finnair and Qantas already serve the city, with American to join them next year. Cathay Pacific operates freighters there, and as applied for passenger rights.

American Eagle opens four more US domestic links: American Eagle, the AA and oneworld regional affiliate, is further to expand its Miami network with the addition of Dayton and Greensboro from 1 August, with daily Embraer ERJ-140s. Meantime, it will launch twice-daily seasonal ERJ-145 regional jet flights between its Chicago O'Hare hub and Savannah/Hilton Head from 2 July.

oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus - enabling them 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. Together, its members serve some 600 destinations and 135 countries. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets. oneworld was voted the world's best airline alliance by readers of Business Traveller magazine in its 2004 poll and the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the second year running in the latest World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by80,000 travel agency professionalsfrom more than 200 countries. It is also the only alliance whose members reported collective profits last year. Note: LAN affiliates LAN ECUADOR and LAN ARGENTINA are not a members of oneworld.