aword from oneworld: July 2007

19 July 2007

Malév launches oneworld promotion for FFP members: Malév Hungarian Airlines has launched a special promotion for members of its Duna Club frequent flyer programme to highlight its new membership of oneworld® .

Any of its FFP registering and flying on any oneworld airline before the end of October will be entered in a draw with winners receiving a pair of business class tickets to selected "exotic" destinations, on Malév itself or alliance partners American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qantas. See http://www.malev.hu/dcpromo/index_eng.htm

At a special press briefing at its Budapest base yesterday, the airline also highlighted its participation in the oneworld Yokoso! Visit Japan campaign, launched by the alliance in March to mark the addition to the grouping of Japan Airlines.

Visa and health information now available at oneworld.com: Information on visa and health requirements for virtually every country worldwide is available at oneworld.com See oneworld.com/ow/airports-and-destinations/visa-and-health-information

American and BA to move London-Dallas/Fort Worth to Heathrow: American Airlines and British Airways are to transfer flights between their Dallas/Fort Worth and London bases from the UK capital's Gatwick airport to Heathrow from late March next year.

BA will move its daily service on the route and American one of its two dailies, with the second remaining at Gatwick.

Also moving from London Gatwick to Heathrow at the same time will be American's daily Raleigh/Durham service and BA's twice-daily Houston operation.

These airport switches are made possible by the open skies agreement between the USA and Europe which takes effect then.

American to open service to third London gateway: American Airlines is to open service to a third London airport, with the launch of daily flights to the UK capital's Stansted from New York JFK from 28 October. The new service adds Stansted to the oneworld network.

American will inaugurate the route with daily two-class Boeing 767-300s, featuring its next generation Business Class seats that convert into lie flat beds. A second daily frequency will be added early in 2008.

American already serves London's Heathrow and Gatwick. Its additional service will take its daily schedule between the USA and London to 20 round trips daily.

A fourth London airport is also on the oneworld network, with British Airways flights from London City.

Finnair to be fourth oneworld airline to serve Seoul: Seoul is to be the latest destination in Asia served by Finnair, with an initial five Airbus A340-300s a week between the South Korean capital and the airline's Helsinki home.

It will become the fourth oneworld airline to serve the city, with Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines offering year-round services to its Incheon airport, and Qantas flying there on a seasonal basis. JAL also operates to the city's other main airport, Gimpo. Finnair will be the only airline flying between Seoul and northern Europe, with excellent connections across the continent at its Helsinki hub.

Deputy Chief Executive Henrik Arle said: "This is a natural continuation of our Asian strategy. Thanks to our growing European network we can offer the shortest and quickest connections to most European capitals."

Madrid to be affiliate LAN Peru's first destination in Europe: oneworld affiliate LAN Peru is to launch flights to Europe next month, when it inaugurates services between its Lima base and alliance hub Madrid with an initial three round trips a week with Boeing 767s from 7 August.

JAL to raise Delhi frequencies to daily: Japan Airlines is to increase frequencies between its Tokyo Narita hub and Delhi from the current four flights a week to daily from 28 October. Schedules will rise to five a week from 1 October before increasing further to seven a week later that month. All flights will be by two-class Boeing 777-200ERs.

oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas and, since 1 April, Japan Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

oneworld was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fourth year running in the 2006 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by some 170,000 travel professionals, including more than 110,000 travel agents in 200 countries.