Qatar Airways to join Oneworld Alliance

Addition will increase Oneworld's global coverage to 856 destinations in 159 countries generating annual revenues of nearly $120 billion

Dubai: Qatar Airways is set to join Oneworld Alliance – one of the world’s three largest airline groups, the company announced.

“Its addition will increase Oneworld's global coverage to 856 destinations in 159 countries, served by a combined fleet of 2,600 aircraft operating more than 9,300 flights and carrying almost a million passengers every day or 342 million a year, generating annual revenues of nearly $120 billion (Dh440 billion),” Oneworld said in a statement.

The Doha-based airline's implementation into Oneworld is expected to take between 12 and 18 months.

The airline, 50 per cent owned by the State of Qatar and 50 per cent by private shareholders, carried 15 million passengers in 2011, generating group revenues of $6.4 billion.

"The big three Gulf carriers have been embraced by millions of consumers the world over – just as consumers have embraced global airline alliances.  Our own analysis clearly demonstrated that Qatar Airways is the best fit for Oneworld's network, requirements, philosophy and strategy,” Bruce Ashby, Oneworld CEO, said.

Qatar Airways is the first of the three major airlines based in the Gulf to sign for any of the global airline alliances.

“Oneworld is delighted to be the first of the global alliances to welcome a member airline from this region, enabling us to be the first to offer consumers the services and benefits offered by both a global alliance and a Gulf carrier,” Ashby said.

An airline alliance is an agreement between two or more airlines to cooperate on a substantial level. The three largest passenger alliances are the Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld.

A significant number of international airlines have joined these alliances to gain market share while creating operational synergies as bitter competition and high cost of jet fuel and reducing margins are taking a toll on the global airline industry.

"Alliances are playing an increasingly important role in the airline industry today - and that will continue long into the future,” Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, said.

“Qatar Airways has carefully reviewed its strategic options and it is very clear that joining Oneworld is by far the best way forward for us as we look to strengthen our competitive offering and give passengers what they fully deserve – more choice.”

Qatar Airway’s announcement comes a few hours after Abu Dhabi-based Etihad announced a strong partnership with Air France-KLM – one of the world’s biggest airline company and leading partner of SkyTeam – Oneworld’s rival alliance.

However, Etihad fell short of fully joining the alliance, while Airberlin – in which Etihad owns a 29.5 per cent stake – remains an active partner with Oneworld Alliance.

Emirates, the biggest Arab airline and also the biggest carrier of international passengers, is yet to join any of the alliances. While the battle of the skies hots up, it keeps others guessing. "Its unlikely we'll see any kneejerk reaction from Emirates or Etihad," Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst of StrategicAero Research, an aviation advisory, said.

“As a member of Oneworld, Qatar Airways will fly alongside some of the biggest and best brands in the airline business,” said a Oneworld statement.

British Airways will serve as its sponsor in joining Oneworld, supported by the central Oneworld alliance team, mentoring the recruit through its alliance implementation programme.

Qatar Airways will be Oneworld's second member airline based in the Middle East, alongside Royal Jordanian, which became the first airline from the region to join any of the global alliances when it boarded Oneworld in 2007.

“More significantly, Qatar Airways will substantially strengthen Oneworld's customer offering by providing superior routing alternatives across many hundreds of city pairs,” Oneworld said.

“For example, passengers flying between Asia and Southern Europe or between Asia and Africa will now have convenient one-stop connections not previously available within the Oneworld network.”

Qatar Airways serves a network of 120 destinations in 70 countries with a fleet of 111 aircraft. The carrier is set to move into a new home in 2013 with the opening of the New Doha International Airport, designed to strengthen its position as a premium global hub with an eventual capacity for 50 million passengers a year.

“Not only will Qatar Airways benefit by seeing even more traffic come to and through its hub in Doha, it will have access to a wider range of markets that it currently has limited presence in – especially in North America and Latin America,” Ahmad said.

“Likewise, for the Oneworld members, they will be able to access markets across the Gulf and wider Arabian penninsula that they do not serve. Countries like Iran and Iraq spring to mind, where demand is immense but there aren't nearly enough services available to cater for it.”