Having finalised its merger with China Southwest Airlines and China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), Air China is looking to make its mark on the world stage by forging partnerships with more international carriers.
The Chinese flag carrier late in August took a major step towards joining the Star Alliance by agreeing a tie-up with one of its founding members, United Airlines. The wide-ranging agreement covers codesharing and frequent-flyer programme ties.
The marketing alliance takes effect on 31 October, when Air China and United will codeshare on their respective flights between China and the USA, allowing them each to offer 26 weekly non-stop services between the two countries. The codeshare deal will cover United's daily flights between Chicago and Beijing as well as those between San Francisco and Shanghai, and Air China's 12 weekly flights on its Beijing-Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco routes.
United will also codeshare on Air China services from Beijing and Shanghai to five other Chinese cities, while Air China will codeshare on United's domestic flights from Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles to 14 other US cities.
The signing of the agreement came nearly two months after Air China stopped codesharing with Northwest Airlines. The severing of ties with Northwest and the prompt switch of allegiance to United was viewed as a clear sign that Air China has chosen Star as its alliance of choice.
"Air China aims to become one of the world's major airlines. To align with world-class airlines such as United is a key component of Air China's globalisation strategy," Air China president Li Jiaxiang said at the signing ceremony in Beijing.
The agreement was signed on 28 August, exactly one month after Air China completed a major restructuring under which it merged with CNAC - the operator of Zhejiang Airlines - and China Southwest. Air China is the surviving carrier, now operating on 395 routes - 73 international and 322 domestic - with 480 scheduled flights per day.
The merger was part of a sweeping consolidation exercise ordered by the Chinese government that will see 10 airlines merged into three mammoth groups, around Beijing-based Air China, Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines and Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines.
All three of the world's major alliance groupings - Star, SkyTeam and oneworld - have been seeking a member in China. While Air China has been leaning towards Star, China Eastern is closest to oneworld and China Southern is closest to SkyTeam.
The carriers have said that they needed to sort out internal restructuring issues before being able to look at alliance membership. Air China, which already has forged strong ties to Star carrier Lufthansa, is now expected to join the alliance sometime in the next couple of years.
China Eastern and China Southern are still working on their own merger issues but those are expected to be finalised this year, after which observers expect them to forge similar agreements with foreign carriers like that signed by Air China and United.NICHOLAS IONIDES SINGAPORE
Source: Airline Business
