An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within countries.
According to simpleflying.com, Star Alliance was created nearly 25 years ago in 1997. It was followed by oneworld (1999) and SkyTeam (2000). This coming summer, starting in less than a month, the trio will be responsible for approximately 45% of all flights globally, based on analyzing the latest information from Cirium.
Star Alliance remains the biggest
Despite the pandemic, Star Alliance has over a million more flights this summer than each the other two groups. It has four in ten of flights by the three alliances, one of its highest proportions to date.
More significant is that oneworld has overtaken SkyTeam for the first time. It has been helped by Alaska becoming a member in 2021 and swiftly becoming the group’s second-largest airline, and SkyTeam’s heavy dominance in Northeast Asia, a subregion still badly affected by the pandemic.
1.Star Alliance: 3,866,428 flights this summer
2. Oneworld: 2,828,257
3.SkyTeam: 2,791,940
Star has 26 members and various affiliated airlines and connecting partners. As the table later in the article shows, it is strongly dominant in Western Europe, particularly thanks to Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, and SAS. While 60% of African flights are by nonaffiliated airlines, Star has well over half of alliance services thanks to Ethiopian Airlines, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, and, far less importantly now, South African.
North America rules, but…
Given all three alliances are heavily dominated by American (oneworld), United (Star), and Delta (SkyTeam), it is no surprise that North America is the leading region for all three alliances. Four in every 10 of their flights involve North America, but it varies greatly by specific group.
In comparison, North America is smaller, in absolute and particularly proportion terms, for SkyTeam (36%) and Star (32%). Notice in the table how much larger the second subregion is for SkyTeam and Star than for oneworld. In Western Europe, oneworld is, of course, mainly British Airways.
American and Alaska are oneworld’s largest airlines this summer. According to Cirium, eight of oneworld’s top-10 airports are in the US: Dallas (ranking #1), Charlotte (#2), Chicago (#3), Seattle (#5), Miami (#6), Philadelphia (#7), Washington National (#8), and Phoenix (#10).
oneworld’s nearly at pre-pandemic flights
oneworld’s total flights down by just 0.4% this summer versus summer 2019. In comparison, Star remains down by 7% and SkyTeam by 14%.
A relative lack of presence in Asia and Europe has influenced oneworld’s rebound, along with a stronger presence in North America – one of the best performing areas during the pandemic, at least in the US.
