Alliance of airline companies

The alliances between airline companies are cooperation agreements between airline companies.

For primarily economic reasons an airline company operates starting from one only base, or of a very limited number of bases. It gathers in this place its administrative activities and especially the maintenance of its planes. The supply of services in the stopovers is to him generally much more expensive than on its basis and, in particular, in the little served stopovers. The airline companies frequently make from the bilateral agreements with a local company to sub-contract or exchange services: recording of the passengers, handling of the luggage, servicing of the planes.

The following stage consists in proposing flights in division of code: one of the companies ensures the flight which is identified with the code of each one of it and each company is represented at the stopover by the personnel of the local company.

With the development of the traffic and competition between companies, this one wanted fidéliser their customers. The selected tool is the Programme of development of consumer loyalty which, to function effectively, must make it possible to the passenger to connect a maximum of destinations. The extension of the companies outside their territory being limited for the economic motives referred to above but also because of the official agreements limiting competition on certain ways, the largest American companies engaged a program of creation of alliances. Initially with the largest European and Asian companies then with less important companies.

It is not very probable that the number of these alliances falls because the authorities of the the United States and those of the European Union are concerned maintenance of competition.

The oldest alliance of big size still in activity today date of 1989, when Northwest Airlines and KLM signed an agreement of flight in division of code to large scales: from now on these two companies make both part of SkyTeam since the fusion of KLM with Air France in 2004.

Objectives of an alliance

  • Development of consumer loyalty of the passengers with in particular the creation of a common programme of accumulation of points giving right free voyages.

  • Multiplication of the services on the ground: deprived waiting rooms, arranges local representation.
  • Increase in the number of destinations and the frequency of service road.
  • single Recording and correspondence facilitated between flights within the same alliance.
    • Standard
  • of service similar on the whole of the network.

Principal alliances

Three principal alliances are:

* = since June 2005

** = the source IATA /Rapport of management 2005
*** = these destinations will join the network on the entry of air new lines of member (in the bracket) in 2005/2006

The strong points of the network are defined like the continents or the areas where one of the participating companies has of a platform of correspondence and a network dense.
The weak points of the network are the areas where none the participating companies has a sufficient network.

Three alliances above represent more than 50% of the passenger traffic.

Other alliances

External bonds

  • Air transport and right of competition in Europe and in the USA

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