New York subway 'joins' oneworld in latest advertising campaign

06 octobre 2010

New York City subway trains are to "become" part of oneworld®, the premier global airline alliance.  But - sorry commuters! - you'll not be able earn frequent flyer miles or get your other frequent flyer privileges when you ride on them. 

The shuttles that run between Manhattan's Grand Central station and both Times Square and the East 34th Street heliport are to be decorated inside and out in special oneworld alliance designs as part of the airline grouping's latest advertising campaign.

On the outside, the carriages will completely covered with the oneworld logo and the tailfins of its member airlines, which include best-in-class carriers from every region - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas and Royal Jordanian.

Inside, they'll be decorated with giant sky scenes - along with information about what oneworld and its member airlines are doing to make air travel a better experience not just to and from the Big Apple but right around the world.

The campaign uses the word "UP" as its theme, to illustrate how oneworld enables travellers to "up" their access to airport lounges, frequent flyer rewards, ability to reach many more places and on a collection of some of the world's highest quality airlines.

Playing on the "up" theme, posters in the campaign will be displayed in some unusual locations - on the train carriages' ceilings, high on the side of buildings, in other unusual but highly noticeable places at airports and their approaches.

The advertisements themselves - which will also run in newspapers, magazines and on-line - will feature pictures by top photographer Dewey Nicks, showing typical business air travellers appearing to float upwards.

Besides New York, the campaign - developed for oneworld by its creative agency Imagination - will also run in Milan, Rome and Tokyo.

The launch of the campaign comes at a time when oneworld itself is also on the up with:

  • Russia's leading domestic carrier S7 Airlines on track to join on 15 November, expanding substantially the alliance's network in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
  • India's leading carrier Kingfisher Airlines becoming a oneworld member elect in June with Air Berlin, Germany's second biggest airline and Europe's fifth largest, following in July. These two recruits will also substantially expand the alliance's network in these two key regions.
  • Japan Airlines expanding its co-operation with its oneworld partners since reaffirming its membership of the alliance in February, filing days later with American Airlines for anti-trust immunity for a joint business across the Pacific and more than doubling its code-sharing with British Airways, expanding consumer choice and travel flexibility.
  • American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia set to launch their transatlantic joint business in October, offering customers even more and better services.
  • British Airways and Iberia are on track to complete their merger by the end of the year.
  • LAN Airlines celebrating its 10th anniversary as a oneworld member on 1 June. Since joining, it has added to the grouping its affiliates in Argentina, Ecuador and Peru. With Mexico and Central America's leading airline Mexicana joining oneworld in November 2009, this extended oneworld's position still further as the leading Latin American alliance.
  • oneworld adding the World Airline Awards' World's Best Alliance title to the World Travel Awards' World's Leading Airline Alliance trophies it has won for the past seven years, as the only winner of that award since it was introduced in 2003.

oneworld Vice-President Commercial Nicolas Ferri said: "The aim is to raise awareness of oneworld in some of our key markets by making clear the value that comes with the alliance of best-in-class airlines that puts the customers' interests at the heart of everything through an unerring commitment to keep getting better.  The ads are intended to get across our focus on delivering quality service with a touch of humanity, and show that oneworld is an alliance of airlines who always want to make your travel more uplifting."

Print-quality versions of images used in the campaign can be downloaded from http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news-and-information/gallery/list?categoryID=4&subCategoryID=28

About oneworld

oneworld 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, Mexicana, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and around 20 affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Russia's S7 Airlines will join the alliance on 15 novembre 2010 with Air Berlin and India's Kingfisher Airlines also members elect.  Between them, these airlines:

  • Serve almost 900 airports in nearly 150 countries, with some 9 500 daily departures.
  • Offer more than 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
  • Carry 340 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of almost 2 500 aircraft.
  • Generate around US$90 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 World's Best Alliance in the 2010 World Airline Awards and has been voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the past seven years in the World Travel Awards.   It is the only winner of this award since it was introduced in 2003.