Japan Airlines to join oneworld alliance next year

		AA Chairman Gerard Arpey presents JAL CEO Designate Haruka Nishimatsu with an invitation to join oneworld

Japan Airlines (JAL) will become part of oneworld^TM in early 2007, after accepting today a formal letter of invitation to join the world's leading quality global airline alliance.

JAL is the biggest carrier in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of both revenue and passengers carried, and the largest carrier yet to link to any of the global alliance. Using virtually all measures, it will be in the alliance's biggest three, alongside American Airlines and British Airways.

Besides the mainline Japan Airlines, five other members of the JAL Group will also join oneworld as affiliates -JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-Air and Japan Transocean Air.

The letter of invitation was signed today at a meeting of the oneworld Governing Board in Paris ahead of tomorrow's IATA World Air Transport Summit. The Chief Executives of the eight existing oneworld partners - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus - were joined for the first time by their counterparts at JAL and the other two members elect Malév and Royal Jordanian.

The accord comes just six months after JAL indicated it wanted to board the grouping, and follows a memorandum of understanding completed in February as the first step in this process.

JAL and its affiliates will add 47 destinations to the oneworld map. With Malév and Royal Jordanian bringing another 25 airports on-line to the alliance, the new recruits will expand its network to almost 700 destinations in approaching 150 countries.

Work has already begun to connect JAL's key IT systems - and those of Malév and Royal Jordanian - to their new partners' platforms and to bring their various internal processes and procedures into line with the alliance's requirements.

JAL has already interline e-ticketing (IET) links in place with American and British Airways, enabling passengers to transfer between their flights using just electronic tickets, without the need for a traditional paper ticket. It expects to connect with Cathay Pacific within the next few months and with the rest of the alliance's current members and recruits by early next year, before it joins.

oneworld is currently the only alliance with interline e-ticketing (IET) between all of its partners, enabling passengers to travel throughout its network using only electronic tickets.

JAL and Malév have also already joined the alliance's Global Explorer round-the-world fare product, which already included some other carriers which are not part of the alliance.

Members of their frequent flyer programmes will be mailed new cards bearing the oneworld logo, to ensure they receive the privileges to which they will then be entitled when they fly with other oneworld members and affiliates.

The three members elect will be oneworld's first new recruits for more than five years. In the interim, the alliance's focus was on helping its member airlines weather the worst financial crisis the industry has faced.