Mexicana plans to officially enter the Oneworld Alliance on 10 November, roughly six months after a previously-announced entry date of May.
Oneworld in April 2008 announced Mexicana's intent to join the alliance, with Iberia acting as its sponsor. Iberia has supported Mexicana through the 18-month implementation phase for entry into Oneworld, which includes 35 "streams of activity", Oneworld explains.
ATI in May of this year reported that Mexicana was pushing back its entry into Oneworld from May until October. A Oneworld spokesman explains the October entry date was never a timeframe agreed to with the alliance, and "from our side there are no delays".
Mexicana has been overhauling its IT systems, which includes a transition to the Amadeus Altea platform. Seven other Oneworld partners currently use the Altea package. Oneworld's spokesman explains the final phase of the switch to Altea is scheduled for completion next month.
Once Mexicana and its subsidiaries MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink join oneworld, the alliance's route map will be enlarged by 26 destinations - 24 in Mexico plus Edmonton, Canada and Oakland, USA.
Mexicana's addition to Oneworld results in the alliance extending its coverage in Latin America to almost 150 destinations, resulting in oneworld's global coverage approaching 700 destinations in 150 countries.
"Oneworld is very selective about who we invite on board to join us as a new member," says alliance Managing Partner John McCullouch. "We only consider airlines with brands that match the quality of our established partners, who share our priorities of safety customer service and profitability who can expand our existing combined network in key regions, rather than simply replicating what we already offer."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
