Airline Alliances, What and Why?
What is an Airline Alliance?
It is simply an agreement among airlines to cooperate in sharing resources, extending routes, and even offering redeemable rewards as per the airline’s policies.
We all may have benefited from the Alliances in one way or another. For example, when booking a flight from Mombasa(MBA) to Chicago(ORD) with Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways has no direct flight to Chicago but you’ll notice the “Operated by Delta Airlines” in the flight to Chicago.
Well, that is mainly because Kenya Airways and Delta Airlines are both members of the SkyTeam. That is one of the greatest benefits of alliances, you can book to a destination not covered by the airline and still get the flights.
Airline Alliances…
The 3 main alliances are Star Alliance, One World, and SkyTeam.
Star Alliance
It was founded in May 14th, 1997 by Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines.
The Alliance received it’s first reward in 2002 as the best Alliance in the U.S by Business Traveller Magazine.
Since then, the alliance has grown to have 26 member airlines and almost 195 destination countries (1300 destinations worldwide)
You may have noticed some airlines livery are of the alliances they belong to:
One World
The alliance was founded in February 1999, and has grown to have 14 member airlines. Some of the famoue member airlines are Qatar, American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.
The alliance now serves over 1000 destinations globally in more than 170 destination countries.
The latest member to join the alliance is Alaska, in 2021.
Sky Team
The alliance was founded in June, 200 by Aeroméxico, Air France, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air.
The alliance has now 19 member airlines including Kenya Airways.
It also has 1,036 destinations in 170 countries.
While most airlines enjoy the benefits of alliances, some airlines prefer to go solo like Emirates and Etihad.
