Oneworld is celebrating its 25th birthday, having flown nearly nine billion customers since it was established.
The alliance was formed on 1 February, 1999 by founding members American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines (which merged into Star Alliance member Air Canada in 2001), Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and has grown to include 13 full member carriers as well as 26 affiliate airlines and a connect partner in Fiji Airways.
Oneworld was the second of the three major airline alliances to be established, following Star Alliance in 1997 (SkyTeam was formed in 2000).
Royal Air Maroc and Alaska Airlines were the most recent airlines to join in 2020 and 2021 respectively, but oneworld has also lost two members in recent years – LATAM following Delta taking a stake in the carrier, and the suspension of S7 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As previously reported Oman Air is set to join the alliance as its 14th full member later this year, with Qatar Airways acting as a sponsor for the carrier’s entry.
The anniversary follows the recent opening of oneworld’s first fully branded lounge, located in Incheon International airport’s Terminal 1.
The 555 sqm facility is set to be joined by a second, much-anticipated oneworld lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol in the coming weeks (see this discussion on our forum).
Oneworld said that a member airline flight takes off or lands every six seconds, with the alliance collectively serving more than 900 global destinations. Uniformed staff will celebrate the anniversary by wearing specially-designed pin badges bearing a new 25th anniversary logo.
Commenting on the news Robert Isom, American Airlines chief executive officer and oneworld alliance Chairman, said:
“We are happy to celebrate the world’s leading airline alliance with more than 200 million loyal customers around the globe.
“Together, we now operate more than 12,000 departures every day – equivalent to a oneworld member airline flight taking off or landing every six seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Highlighted by the recent opening of our first fully-branded oneworld lounge in Seoul in South Korea, we continue to expand the oneworld network around the world for the benefit of our customers.
We look forward to the next 25 years of setting new standards in customer excellence and innovation.”
