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First Chinese airline alliance member as Dragonair joins Oneworld September  2007

Dragonair will be the first Chinese airline to join a major alliance when it becomes a member of Oneworld on November 1. Air China and Shanghai Airlines have both been invited to join rival Star Alliance but have yet to take up membership.

The addition of the Hong Kong-based carrier, which is part of the Cathay Pacific Group, will add a further 12 destinations in mainland China for Oneworld, increasing the total to 22. The additional points will be Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Sanya, Shenyang and Wuhan.

Three other of Dragonair’s regional destinations will also be additions to the alliance’s existing network – Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Phuket in Thailand and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. With the newcomer, Oneworld’s 10 members and 20 affiliates will cover more than 700 destinations in almost 150 countries and territories.

Dragonair’s frequent flyers will be able to earn and redeem mileage awards on all Oneworld member airlines, while top-tier members will have access to 500 airport lounges worldwide. At the same time, members of other frequent flyer programmes within the alliance will be able to earn and redeem awards and receive all the other benefits when flying with the Hong Kong carrier.

Full members of Oneworld include American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines.

American steps up service
American Airlines, which is launching a daily service on the New York JFK-London Stansted route on October 29, has already announced plans for a second daily frequency from April next year. It is also introducing daily non-stop flights from JFK to Milan and Barcelona from May.

All three routes will be operated by two-class Boeing 767-300s with 221 seats, including 30 Next Generation Business Class seats. For westbound passengers, there are onward connections in New York to some 40 destinations across the Americas and the Caribbean, served by the airline.

New Berlin-London City link
Lufthansa is to introduce a twice-daily link between Berlin Tegel and London City airport from January 14. To be operated by regional partner Eurowings, the service will feature an 89-seat BAe146, with a flight time of around 100 minutes. Lufthansa already flies from Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Nuremberg from London City, with flights from Stuttgart being launched this month.

News in brief...
- AirAsia is planning to set up a low-cost airline in Vietnam in a joint venture with a major shipbuilder, one of the country’s largest state-owned corporations. The new airline, based on AirAsia’s successful business model, will operate domestic, regional and international routes.

- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to launch a twicedaily service between Amsterdam and Linköping from March 30, using Fokker 70s. It will become the first major international airline to serve three gateways in Sweden, as it already flies to Stockholm and Gothenburg.

- Korean Air extends its services to Australia with the addition of Melbourne from October 22. Flights will be operated by a long-range Airbus A330-200, initially on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The carrier already serves Sydney and Brisbane.

- Asiana Airlines has added a fifth weekly departure from Heathrow on the London-Seoul route. The new Monday flight, which will operate until October 22, offers onward connections to Australia, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and China.

- El Al is adding a third weekly service this winter between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv. The new Monday morning departure features one of the
carrier's refurbished Boeing 767s.

- Emirates has launched the first direct link between Dubai and the North East of England with the introduction this month of a daily service to Newcastle. First and Business class passengers benefit from complimentary chauffeur-drive transfers within a 70-mile radius of the airport.