What's Up with the Oneworld Airline Alliance in 2013

March 13, 2013 at 11:41 AM | by jetflyboy | Comments (0)

There's been some big, exciting news in the aviation world, and some bankruptcies and some mergers that cross the lines of traditional airline alliances. These shake-ups will redraw alliance lines and might affect your ability to earn and burn frequent flyer miles to your dream destination. Let's discuss Oneworld since the recent American and US Airways merger will mean the most for US-based travelers.

We already know that the New American will be sticking with Oneworld, which means the inevitable departure of US Airways from Star Alliance. In general, this doesn't open up a wealth of new US destinations, but it actually expands an already thorough South American network and opens a few new European cities to Oneworld.

Speaking of South America, Oneworld will see another merger-related addition after LAN and TAM finally announced to pledge allegiance to Oneworld. The new airline, LATAM, will make for a powerhouse team south of the border, but this also has caused another exit from Star Alliance.

The first part of this year also saw Malaysia Airlines become a full-fledged member of Oneworld. The end of the year will also see Sri Lankan Airlines join the alliance and open up even more Central Asian ports for travelers.

In what looks like a regional coup, Qatar Airways will be welcoming OW passengers by the end of year, if all goes as planned. Being the first of the big Middle Eastern carriers to hook-up with an official alliance, Qatar has paved the way for its regional peers to move in a similar direction.

Stay tuned for tomorrow as we take a closer look at Star Alliance's plans for 2013.

[Photo: Oneworld]

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