Japan Airlines Completes First Step to oneworld Membership
February 07 2006 - 11:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- . Japan
Airlines (JAL) and oneworld(SM) have exchanged a memorandum of
understanding, completing the Asian carrier's first step toward
joining the world's leading quality global airline alliance. The
agreement was signed just three months after JAL first indicated
its intention to seek oneworld membership. It sets out a framework
for the remaining steps to be taken before the alliance can
formally invite the airline to join. All parties have committed to
reach this stage in the next few months -- and then to bring the
new recruit on board oneworld on a fast- track program. Assuming
all remaining agreements can be reached, JAL should be flying as a
full-fledged member of the alliance in about one year. American
Airlines will be supporting JAL through these tasks as its prime
oneworld sponsor, assisted by Cathay Pacific. "Adding Japan
Airlines will be one of the most significant developments in
oneworld's history," said oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch.
"We are delighted that we have been able to reach this key stage in
our discussions so soon. It signals an excellent relationship going
forward. Bringing JAL on board is a top priority for the alliance.
oneworld and all its member airlines have committed to do whatever
is necessary to complete this process as smoothly and speedily as
possible. We look forward to working with the team at JAL to
complete the steps necessary before we can issue a formal
invitation to join." Said JAL Group Chief Executive Officer
Toshiyuki Shinmachi: "Discussions between Japan Airlines and
oneworld have progressed at an extremely swift pace. The memorandum
of understanding signifies Japan Airlines' first major step toward
obtaining full membership of oneworld. We hope that we can maintain
this pace and successfully complete all the stages ahead of us, so
JAL can enter oneworld as soon as possible, to the benefit of our
customers." About oneworld 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, plus their 12 affiliates. Member- designate
airlines Royal Jordanian and Hungary's Malev will start offering
the alliance's services and benefits in early 2007. The alliance
enables its member airlines 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 whole alliance network, and
access to more airport lounges. Together, its members: * Serve some
605 destinations in 135 countries. With JAL, Royal Jordanian and
Malev, the oneworld network would extend to 696 destinations in 141
countries and territories. * Operate more than 8,000 departures a
day on a fleet of some 2,000 aircraft. * Provide top frequent
flyers and premium passengers with some 400 airport lounges
worldwide. * Carried more than 240 million passengers last year. *
Earned more than $60 billion in revenues in their last full
financial years, with oneworld activities generating one in every
$30 earned by its member airlines from passenger services. oneworld
offers more alliance fare and sales products than any of its
competitors, earning almost $600 million for its member airlines
last year, with all passengers transferring between oneworld
members generating revenues totaling $1.6 billion in the year. It
is the first global alliance to enable customers to transfer
between flights by all of its member airlines using electronic
tickets. oneworld has won more top international awards for airline
alliances than its competitors combined. It was voted the World's
Leading Airline Alliance for the third year running in the 2005
World Travel Awards, which are based on votes cast by travel
professionals from more than 200 countries, and was selected the
World's Best Airline Alliance by readers of Business Traveller
magazine for the second year running in 2005. Five of oneworld's
existing partners operate to and from Japan -. American Airlines,
British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Qantas -. carrying
some four million passengers last year on a combined schedule of
almost 200 round trips a week. These link Tokyo Narita, Osaka
Kansai, Nagoya Centrair, Fukuoka and Sapporo Chitose with direct
flights to 13 destinations, including oneworld hubs Chicago O'Hare,
Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Helsinki, London
Heathrow, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney. About Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines is the largest carrier in the Asia-Pacific region.
In terms of group revenues, it would become the largest member of
oneworld. Using virtually all other measures, it would be in the
alliance's biggest three, alongside American Airlines and British
Airways. Until today, it was the only one among the 20 biggest
international airlines in the world (IATA members) not to have
joined or sought membership in one of the three key airline
groupings. From its main hubs of Tokyo (Narita and Haneda) and
Osaka (Kansai and Itami), Japan Airlines serves 206 destinations in
34 countries and territories in Asia, Australasia, Europe and the
Americas, including oneworld hubs Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, New
York JFK, London Heathrow, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore. It will
expand oneworld's existing network by about 10 percent, adding 68
destinations -. 56 of them in Japan and five in China. It would
also add one territory -. Guam. With nearly 24,000 staff in the air
transport sector, JAL operates a fleet of some 280 aircraft, which
last year carried almost 60 million passengers. It has some 1,140
departures a day. JAL reported net profits of 30 billion yen (US
$281 million) for 2004, on revenues of 2,130 billion yen (US $20
billion). Founded in 1951, it is a public company with its shares
listed on the Tokyo stock exchange. JAL currently has extensive
bilateral agreements with oneworld partners American Airlines,
British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LAN and Qantas -- and,
since it indicated its plan to join oneworld, with Finnair as well.
Pictures, Logo and Video Pictures and logos of oneworld and its
member carriers can be downloaded from
http://www.oneworld.com/gallery . Pictures and logos of JAL can be
downloaded from the news section at http://www.oneworld.com/gallery
. A video b-roll, with broadcast quality shots of oneworld and its
existing member airlines, is available from AirTime TV (contact
Martin White on +44 7831 270534 or at ). DATASOURCE: oneworld
CONTACT: Michael Blunt, PR of oneworld, +44-20-8738-5173, or
+44-7789-612712, or ; or Stephen Pearlman of JAL, +81-3-5460-3109,
or ; or Media Relations of Aer Lingus, +353-1-886-2573; or
Corporate Communications of American Airlines, +1-817-967-1577, or
; or Kate Gay, Corp Comms Manager of British Airways,
+44-20-8738-5164; or Corporate Communications of Cathay Pacific,
+852-2747-8282; or Corporate Communications of Finnair,
+358-981-84970; or Communications of Iberia, +34-91-587-7462, or ;
or Communications of LAN, +562-565-3975; or Corporate
Communications of Qantas, +61-2-9691-3742 Web site:
http://www.aa.com/ http://www.oneworld.com/pressroom
http://www.jal.com/en/press http://www.aerlingus.com/
http://www.aa.com/pressreleases http://www.britishairways.com/press
http://www.cathaypacific.com/ http://www.finnair.com/
http://www.iberia.com/ http://www.lan.com/
http://www.qantas.com.au/
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