The three major airline alliances and the fleet size of their national carriers (excluding cargo and regional subsidiaries) as of November 2023

An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within countries. This branding may involve unified aircraft liveries of member aircraft.

In 2015, Star Alliance was the largest with 23% of total scheduled traffic in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs)/revenue passenger miles (RPMs), followed by SkyTeam with 20.4% and Oneworld with 17.8%, leaving 38.8% for others. In 2019, by number of passengers, Star Alliance was leading 762 million, followed by SkyTeam (630 million) and Oneworld (535 million).

Rationale

Alliance map as of April 2026

Benefits can consist of an extended network, often realised through codeshare agreements. Many alliances started as only codeshare networks. Cost reductions come from sharing operation facilities (e.g. catering or computer systems), operation staff (e.g. ground handling personnel, at check-in and boarding desks), investments and purchases (e.g. in order to negotiate extra volume discounts). Traveler benefits can include lower prices due to lowered operational costs for a given route, different times to choose from, more destinations within easy reach, shorter travel times, more options of airport lounges shared with alliance members, fast track access on all alliance members if having frequent flyer status, faster mileage rewards by earning miles for a single account on several different carriers, round-the-world tickets, enabling travellers to fly over the world for a relatively low price.

Airline alliances may also create disadvantages for the traveller, such as higher prices when competition is erased on a certain route or less frequent flights; for instance, if two airlines separately fly three and two times a day respectively on a shared route, their alliance might fly less than 5 (3+2) times a day on the same route. This might be especially true between hub cities for each airline. e.g., flights between Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (a Delta Air Lines fortress hub) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (a KLM fortress hub).

History

The first airline alliance was formed in the 1930s, when Panair do Brasil and its parent company Pan American World Airways agreed to exchange routes to Latin America.[citation needed]

The first large alliance began in 1989, when Northwest Airlines and KLM agreed to large-scale codesharing. In 1992, the Netherlands signed the first open skies agreement with the United States, in spite of objections from the European Union, which gave both countries unrestricted landing rights on the other's soil. Normally landing rights are granted for a fixed number of flights per week to a fixed destination. Each adjustment requires negotiations, often between governments rather than between the companies involved. In return, the United States granted antitrust immunity to the alliance between Northwest Airlines and KLM. This alliance continues to exist today (as of 2025) with KLM as a SkyTeam member and Northwest's successor airline Delta also being a member. Other alliances would struggle for years to overcome the transnational barriers and lack of antitrust immunity, and still do so.[citation needed]

On May 14, 1997, an agreement was announced forming the Star Alliance with five airlines on three continents: United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International, Air Canada, and Lufthansa. The alliance chose Young & Rubicam for advertising, with a budget of $25 million (€18 million). which brought competing airlines to form Oneworld in 1999 and SkyTeam in 2000.[citation needed]

In 2010 Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, announced his intention to form a fourth alliance among Virgin branded airlines (Virgin Atlantic; Virgin America; and the Virgin Australia Holdings group of airlines). Then in September 2011, Branson said that Virgin Atlantic would join one of the existing alliances; this idea was repeated in October 2012. In December 2012, Delta Air Lines purchased Singapore Airlines' 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for £224 million. Virgin America was absorbed into Alaska Airlines by 2018, which joined the Oneworld alliance in 2021. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic joined SkyTeam in 2023.

On February 14, 2013, it was announced that American Airlines and US Airways would merge, retaining the American Airlines name and would remain in the Oneworld alliance. US Airways' participation in Star Alliance lapsed. In 2012, in South America, LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines began their merger. In March 2014, with the merger complete, TAM left Star Alliance and became part of LAN in Oneworld.[citation needed]

On September 21, 2015, the Vanilla Alliance was formed between several airlines based in the Indian Ocean region, in order to improve air connectivity within the region. The founding members were Air Austral, Air Mauritius, Air Madagascar, Air Seychelles, and Int'Air Îles.

U-FLY Alliance, the first alliance of low-cost carriers (LCCs), was formed in January 2016, comprising HK Express, Lucky Air, Urumqi Air, and West Air (all affiliated with HNA Group). In May 2016, the world's largest alliance of LCCs was formed, Value Alliance, including founding members Cebu Pacific, Cebgo, Jeju Air, Nok Air, NokScoot, Scoot, Tigerair, Tigerair Australia and Vanilla Air. Neither alliance remains active as of 2025.

Current alliances

Star Alliance

Three current members and one former member of Star Alliance at Tokyo Narita Airport Thai, United, Swiss and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), the latter moved to SkyTeam in 2024
Boeing 787-9 of All Nippon Airways

Star Alliance, founded in 1997, currently has 26 members:

Greece Aegean Airlines, 2010 Canada Air Canada, founder China Air China, 2007 India Air India, 2014 New Zealand Air New Zealand, 1999 Japan All Nippon Airways, 1999 South Korea Asiana Airlines, 2003 Austria Austrian Airlines, 2000 Colombia Avianca, 2012 Belgium Brussels Airlines, 2009 Panama Copa Airlines, 2012 Croatia Croatia Airlines, 2004 Egypt EgyptAir, 2008 Ethiopia Ethiopian Airlines, 2011 Taiwan EVA Air, 2013 Italy ITA Airways, 2026 Poland LOT Polish Airlines, 2003 Germany Lufthansa, founder China Shenzhen Airlines, 2012 Singapore Singapore Airlines, 2000 South Africa South African Airways, 2006 Switzerland Swiss International Air Lines, 2006 Portugal TAP Air Portugal, 2005 Thailand Thai Airways International, founder Turkey Turkish Airlines, 2008 United States United Airlines, founder

Former members:

Star Alliance Connecting Partners

Star Alliance Intermodal Partnership

SkyTeam

Boeing 777-300ER of Garuda Indonesia

SkyTeam, founded in 2000, currently has 18 members:

Argentina Aerolíneas Argentinas, 2012 Mexico Aeroméxico, founder Spain Air Europa, 2007 France Air France, founder Taiwan China Airlines, 2011 China China Eastern Airlines, 2011 United States Delta Air Lines, founder Indonesia Garuda Indonesia, 2014 Kenya Kenya Airways, 2007 Netherlands KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, 2004 South Korea Korean Air, founder Lebanon Middle East Airlines, 2012 Saudi Arabia Saudia, 2012 Denmark Norway Sweden Scandinavian Airlines, 2024 Romania TAROM, 2010 Vietnam Vietnam Airlines, 2010 United Kingdom Virgin Atlantic, 2023 China XiamenAir, 2012

Former members:

Oneworld

Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-8

Oneworld, founded in 1999, currently has 16 members:

United States Alaska Airlines, 2021 United States American Airlines, founder United Kingdom British Airways, founder Hong Kong Cathay Pacific, founder Fiji Fiji Airways, 2025 Finland Finnair, 1999 United States Hawaiian Airlines, 2026 Spain Iberia, 1999 Japan Japan Airlines, 2007 Malaysia Malaysia Airlines, 2013 Oman Oman Air, 2025 Australia Qantas, founder Qatar Qatar Airways, 2013 Morocco Royal Air Maroc, 2020 Jordan Royal Jordanian, 2007 Sri Lanka SriLankan Airlines, 2014

Former members:

Vanilla Alliance

ATR 72-500 of Air Mauritius.

Vanilla Alliance, founded in 2015, currently has 4 members:

Réunion Air Austral, founder Madagascar Madagascar Airlines, founder Mauritius Air Mauritius, founder Seychelles Air Seychelles, founder

Former members:

Comoros Int'Air Îles, founder, 2015–2024, defunct

Former alliances

U-FLY Alliance

U-FLY Alliance, founded in 2016, had 4 members:

South Korea Eastar Jet, 2016 China Lucky Air, founder China Urumqi Air, founder China West Air, founder

Former members:

Value Alliance

Value Alliance, founded in 2016, had 5 members:

Philippines Cebu Pacific, founder Philippines Cebgo, founder South Korea Jeju Air, founder Thailand Nok Air, founder Singapore Scoot, founder

Former members:

Statistics

AllianceMembersPassengers /yearCountries servedDestinationsFleetEmployeesRevenue /year (US$)Flights /dayRPK
Star Alliance26642.1 Mn1951,3605,000432,603179.05 Bn19,0001536 Bn23%
SkyTeam19665.4 Mn1751,0623,937481,691140.98 Bn17,3431362 Bn20.4%
Oneworld13557.4 Mn1611,0163,560382,913130.92 Bn13,8141189 Bn17.8%
Value Alliance (defunct)7180 Mn30183554--400107 Bn1.6%
U-FLY Alliance (defunct)8200 Mn18149593--42040 Bn0.6%
Vanilla Alliance52.3 Mn268946----
Airline alliance market share by network capacity 2007

See also

Notes and references

External links

  • September 25, 2003, at the Wayback Machine
  • Graham Dunn (May 15, 2017). . Flightglobal.