This morning marked the start of a new chapter in how Airline Alliances will affect the travel plans of millions of passengers in the future. The final step in the grand merger of British Airways and Iberia was enacted at 08:00 am today when the shares of the combined airline grouping, called IAG - International Consolidated Airlines Group were traded for the first time on the London and Madrid stock markets.
This merger will effectively add dominance of Madrid Airport to the current top position held by BA at London's Heathrow. As well as providing long term insulation against the British Government's lack of willingness to develop London Heathrow further, it will also give the combined airline a massive advantage on flying passengers to Latin America through a European - rather than US - gateway. Add this advantage to the strong links which are forming with the newly merged LATAM (LAN airlines of Chile plus TAM Airlines of Brazil) through membership of the BA/Iberia led OneWorld Alliance and it's clear where the current strategy is leading.
To date Alliances have been interesting rather than influential in dictating how passengers chose their long haul flight routings, traditionally airlines allowed interlining of baggage between any carriers which had a global or local agreement to do so, alliance procedures are changing this given and now interlining of bags is being restricted to Alliance partners.
More importantly, Alliances allow for the co-ordination of schedules such that connection times are convenient but realistic with easy, well planned air side transits (e.g adjoining gates and same arrival/departure terminals) and standardisation of on-board service per cabin type.
Will these developments be good or bad for the passenger ? Certainly the alliances will add value but undoubtably this will be accompanied by an increase in ticket price and smaller non-allianced carriers will struggle to get passenger feed from markets well served by alliance carriers. We at Alternative Airlines are dedicated to supporting smaller carriers so we will be continually searching for ways to offer more and alternative connections, both on and off "allianced" routings. We believe that choice is good and that booking technology can be used to both extend choice and restrict it,so we choose the former ! With this in mind February 2011 will see the release of a completely new Alternative Airlines booking system which is designed to allow more and different routings to be examined in a lowest price top billing format. Later this spring we will also be introducing a special best price finder feature which will make it easier to find the lowest price fares on selected routes.
2011 is going to be a year of change .. for the alliances, for the airlines. for passengers and especially for Alternative Airlines. The number of passengers choosing to use Alternative Airlines grows every month and we are determined to find new exciting ways to provide a different choice of air travel for everyone who tries our service. As I write this the news comes in that IAG shares fell slightly on opening.. my guess is that this won't last for long and investors will quickly see the benefits of the combined airline, however passengers may have to search a little further to unearth the best value flights.
This merger will effectively add dominance of Madrid Airport to the current top position held by BA at London's Heathrow. As well as providing long term insulation against the British Government's lack of willingness to develop London Heathrow further, it will also give the combined airline a massive advantage on flying passengers to Latin America through a European - rather than US - gateway. Add this advantage to the strong links which are forming with the newly merged LATAM (LAN airlines of Chile plus TAM Airlines of Brazil) through membership of the BA/Iberia led OneWorld Alliance and it's clear where the current strategy is leading. To date Alliances have been interesting rather than influential in dictating how passengers chose their long haul flight routings, traditionally airlines allowed interlining of baggage between any carriers which had a global or local agreement to do so, alliance procedures are changing this given and now interlining of bags is being restricted to Alliance partners.
More importantly, Alliances allow for the co-ordination of schedules such that connection times are convenient but realistic with easy, well planned air side transits (e.g adjoining gates and same arrival/departure terminals) and standardisation of on-board service per cabin type.
Will these developments be good or bad for the passenger ? Certainly the alliances will add value but undoubtably this will be accompanied by an increase in ticket price and smaller non-allianced carriers will struggle to get passenger feed from markets well served by alliance carriers. We at Alternative Airlines are dedicated to supporting smaller carriers so we will be continually searching for ways to offer more and alternative connections, both on and off "allianced" routings. We believe that choice is good and that booking technology can be used to both extend choice and restrict it,so we choose the former ! With this in mind February 2011 will see the release of a completely new Alternative Airlines booking system which is designed to allow more and different routings to be examined in a lowest price top billing format. Later this spring we will also be introducing a special best price finder feature which will make it easier to find the lowest price fares on selected routes.
2011 is going to be a year of change .. for the alliances, for the airlines. for passengers and especially for Alternative Airlines. The number of passengers choosing to use Alternative Airlines grows every month and we are determined to find new exciting ways to provide a different choice of air travel for everyone who tries our service. As I write this the news comes in that IAG shares fell slightly on opening.. my guess is that this won't last for long and investors will quickly see the benefits of the combined airline, however passengers may have to search a little further to unearth the best value flights.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
