JEDDAH, 20 January 2006 — The SkyTeam governing board announced this week that Middle East Airlines (MEA), also known as Air Liban, Lebanon’s national carrier, has taken the first steps toward becoming an associate member airline in the SkyTeam Alliance. Air Liban will become the first airline in the Middle East to join the SkyTeam Alliance and the second airline in the Middle East to join an international alliance. Royal Jordanian Airline began the process of joining the oneworld airline alliance last fall, which is the first airline to join the alliance in over five years.
Currently, Iberia is the only oneworld partner with a code-sharing agreement with Royal Jordanian on their Amman-Madrid route. Air France will serve as MEA’s sponsor during the joining process, with completion expected within the next 15 months. “We are pleased that MEA, with an established presence in the Middle East region and in the Arabic world, is interested in affiliating itself with SkyTeam,” said Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and CEO of Air France KLM. “The alliance looks forward to working with the airline and providing all passengers with additional opportunities in this high-growth market.”
As announced previously, the associate program extends SkyTeam’s benefits to more passengers. As part of their involvement with SkyTeam, associate members of the alliance will adhere to key alliance customer programs, including frequent flyer reciprocity, lounge access and code-sharing agreements.
Royal Jordanian has an extensive network throughout the Levant, Middle East and Gulf region. In addition, it currently operates to established oneworld hubs London Heathrow, Madrid, Barcelona, New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare and Bangkok. It will add two countries to the oneworld map (Iraq and Yemen) and 10 destinations — Al-Arish (Egypt); Al-Ain (UAE); Aden and Sanaa (Yemen); Dammam and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); Aqaba (Jordan); and Baghdad, Basra and Irbil (Iraq). This will extend oneworld alliance’s network to 135 territories and 611 destinations.
MEA, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, serves 1.2 million passengers annually. With a modern fleet of three Airbus A330-200 and six Airbus A321-200 aircraft, the airline flies to 26 destinations in 17 countries, serving cities in Europe, the Middle East, Gulf States and Africa.
The oneworld alliance is the largest airline alliance and it is the only global alliance to enable passengers to fly across its entire network with just electronic tickets. The alliance brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business — American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus, plus their 12 affiliates. Hungary’s Malev signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2005 as its first step toward joining the alliance. Japan Airlines (JAL), in addition, made an announcement that it is to seek membership to the oneworld alliance.
SkyTeam is the global airline alliance partnering nine members, including Aeroméxico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. Through one of the world’s most extensive hub networks, SkyTeam offers its 343.6 million annual passengers a worldwide system of more than 15,000 daily flights covering all major destinations.
In a similar move by Arab airlines to form an alliance, this year will witness the formal launch of Arabesk, a network of eight Arab and North African airlines aiming to pool their resources. To this end, they will coordinate schedules to avoid costly duplications, reducing expenses by jointly buying aircraft, equipment, fuel, food and insurance, as well as managing supplies of spare parts. The Arabesk alliance will bring together Egypt Air, Gulf Air, MEA, Oman Air, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Tunis Air and Yemen Airways.
The arrangement should also permit the establishment of many more code-sharing arrangements between member airlines, which all belong to the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO). Arabesk is a regional, pan-Arab alliance, in which its members will be free to join global alliances. Behind this project are: the eight Arab airlines, the AACO and Sabre Airline Solutions, the world’s largest provider of software products, reservations, departure control systems and other passenger management systems.
