aword from oneworld: June 2004

2004 年 7 月 1 日

oneworld member airline lounges voted the world's best: Member airlines of oneworld™ have again taken more places in the latest industry awards than competitors in other alliances, underlining the alliance's commitment to quality customer service.

In the 2004 Skytrax Research survey of airport lounges, based on the votes of 1.4 million people, Cathay Pacific's Wing and Pier, at its Hong Kong hub, emerged overall top. Qantas was placed fifth and British Airways ninth in the search for the world's top lounge. Cathay Pacific also took first places for best First Class and best Business Class lounges. Qantas took fifth place in the Business Class league. Voters were asked to consider a range of criteria including seating capacity, decor and ambience, business facilities, washrooms, showers and leisure amenities, food and beverage, efficiency and friendliness of staff.

AA completes interline e-ticketing with all oneworld partners: American Airlines has now extended the customer convenience of interline electronic ticketing to all its oneworld partners, keeping the alliance firmly on track to becoming the first airline grouping offering the service between all its members, by the end of this year. With links already in place with Finnair, LAN Chile, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and British Airways, AA cutover with Aer Lingus in April and Iberia this month. Interline e-ticketing - which enables passengers to use a single electronic ticket when their itineraries include flights on more than one airline - is now in place between 12 of the 28 potential pairings of oneworld partners.

Cathay Pacific and Iberia to code-share, improving links between their hubs: Cathay Pacific and Iberia are the latest oneworld members to code-share on one another's flights, making it even easier for passengers to fly between their hubs. From Friday (2 July), Cathay Pacific's CX prefix will be carried on services operated by its Spanish partner between Amsterdam and its two hubs of Madrid and Barcelona, with the IB code placed on flights by the Asian carrier between the Dutch airport and its Hong Kong home.

This latest agreement means that code-sharing is now in place between 21 of the potential 28 pairings of the eight oneworld partners, making it easier for passengers to transfer between the airlines' networks to reach the 575 destinations served by the grouping overall. It also underlines the alliance's aim of strengthening co-operation between its members. It is Cathay Pacific's fourth oneworld code-share agreement, following links with American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas, and Iberia's fifth, with the Spanish airline already working this way with Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways and Finnair.

American adds seven new routes and hundreds of flights a week: American Airlines has added hundreds of additional flights a week to its schedules, with frequencies increased from most of its main hubs to around 50 cities across its international and domestic network and launched four new routes- Chicago O'Hare-Sacramento twice-daily, Los Angeles-San Salvador daily and New York LaGuardia-Nassau and San Francisco-Maui daily. The latter two services will operate during the summer season only. It will link the Bahamas capital with its Dallas/Fort Worth hub from 3 July for the summer season, in addition to American Eagle's seasonal dailies. AA will also inaugurate a daily Miami-St Lucia route from 1 November and serve St Kitts from Miami thrice weekly from 3 November.

LAN launches another five international links from its Peru hub: oneworld affiliate LAN Peru, part of the LAN group, has launched five new routes from its Lima hub - to Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico. It is now flying Airbus A320s to Buenos Aires daily, Quito and Bogota four times a week and Caracas three times weekly, with Boeing 767-300s operating three times a week to Mexico City. The additions take its network to seven cities in Peru and 11 in other countries.

Qantas to serve Shanghai and increase London and Los Angeles flights: Qantas is to launch flights to Shanghai from 2 December with three non-stops a week between the Chinese commercial capital and its Sydney base, using two-class Airbus A330-300s, with an international connection from Melbourne. Finnair is currently the only oneworld carrier serving Shanghai. Meantime, the alliance's Australian partner has launched non-stops between Brisbane and Los Angeles, with an initial three Boeing 747-400s a week in addition to its established daily services via Auckland. It will add another six services a week between Australia and the UK from 31 October- including its first routings via Hong Kong. The new flights - three from Perth and three via Hong Kong from Sydney - will take its London frequencies to 27 a week.

 

Cathay Pacific increases Sydney non-stops to three a day: Cathay Pacific is to add a third daily frequency between its Hong Kong home and the Sydney base of oneworld partner Qantas from 31 October. Cathay Pacific will then operate a total of 43 flights a week between Hong Kong and Australia.

Iberia inaugurates Lagos services: Iberia has launched services between Madrid and Lagos, joining oneworld partner British Airways in serving the Nigeria airport. The Spanish airline is now serving the route three times a week, using Boeing 757s. Its new non-stops shave more than three hours off the previous fastest journey time between the two cities.

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 more than 575 destinations in 135 countries. oneworld offers more alliance fare and sales products, serving more markets, than all its competitors combined. Its members' 1,900 aircraft operate nearly 8,000 flights a day.

 

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