NEW DELHI: Global airline club Oneworld is looking forward to welcoming "on board" Kingfisher Airlines in early 2012 despite the Indian carrier's recent troubles, providing it with perhaps the first break of good news in many weeks.
The three global alliances - Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam - help member airlines hook-up each other with loads of passengers seeking connecting flights and stuff their planes. Such ventures are known to be profitable in an otherwise harsh market.
A spokesman for Oneworld, which includes British Airways, Iberia, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines, said Kingfisher is "making excellent progress in its Oneworld implementation programme". He said Oneworld would soon confirm a precise date when Kingfisher would join the club. He was responding to questions posed by ET on unconfirmed reports that Kingfisher's entry had come under a cloud because of the carrier's litany of woes.
Kingfisher has cancelled nearly 50 flights a day since November 8 - the cancellation will extend to December 15 - to overcome a severe cash crunch. The carrier is saddled with debt running to more than 7,500 crore and its losses more than doubled to 468.88 crore in the September quarter from a year ago.
Oneworld, which invited Kingfisher into the alliance in early 2010, has clearly ignored the string of bad news poking at the Indian carrier. The airline industry the world over, not just in India is facing severe challenges at present, with high oil prices, a fragile economy and many other difficult issues to confront, said the spokesman.
The implementation programme, according to Oneworld, is a complex project, covering virtually every facet of airline activity and takes 18 to 24 months to complete. It involves integrating all the recruit's IT systems to member airlines, bringing its customer service, frequent flyer and distribution processes in line with Oneworld "standards" and "culminating in what will be the biggest training and communications programmes in the airline's history".
A Kingfisher spokesman said the airline has been executing the implementation programme since last year. Kingfisher, he said, will join Oneworld in the first quarter of 2012. "Everything is on track." Kingfisher signed an MoU with Oneworld in February 2010. In June 2010, the civil aviation ministry approved the alliance, a key condition for the alliance to consummate. For passengers, the lure of boarding an airline that is part of a global alliance is frequent-flyer points and comfortable lounges. But access to cheaper fares - the reason regulators encourage such alliances - remains iffy.
Oneworld said members of Kingfisher Airlines' King Club will be able to earn and redeem rewards across the alliance's network 800 destinations in some 150 countries. Kingfisher flies to eight foreign destinations. In August this year, Air India was denied entry into Star Alliance, which said the national carrier failed to meet its conditions. Air India has refuted this.
On Kingfisher's entry, the Oneworld logo will be added alongside that of the airline everywhere it appears - from its aircraft fuselages, to airport signage, stationery and name tags.
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