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Oneworld launches branded trade shows and upgrades its technology to allow customers to check in and get online boarding cards for connecting flights as part of a "transformation" radical. "
The global giant – whose 13 full members include American Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and British Airways – is celebrating its 20th anniversary by updating it to reflect changes over the past two decades.
This includes a series of new initiatives and a repositioning of the brand that encourages pbadengers to "travel lightly".
Pbadengers will see the gradual roll-out of a new digital platform to "realize the alliance's key promise of seamless connectivity for multi-sector and multi-airline customers".
READ: Qantas points you can earn during your sleep.
More than 8 million pbadengers a year travel on oneworld airlines and had to register in a number of sectors at a counter.
The new platform will allow them to use the mobile application of the member airline of their choice to check in, obtain electronic boarding pbades for connecting flights, track baggage, receive information and receive updates on their flights.
Future services will include full seat selection and payment, the ability to pay for additional baggage and the location of lounges and priority lanes.
Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways will be the first airlines to connect to the platform and other companies will be adding it 18 months from now.
The alliance is also looking to increase the number of airports where its airlines are co-located in the same terminal and plans to unveil the first lounge designed, operated and managed by oneworld later this year.
Oneworld's chief, Rob Gurney, said the goal of the branding show would be to offer a bigger and better facility than the airlines could offer individually.
Mr Gurney said that a number of airports were being considered for the first oneworld branded managed lounge, the location to be unveiled later in 2019.
Major airports where colocation activities are ongoing include Beijing Daxing, Sao Paulo, London Heathrow and Frankfurt.
"Oneworld aims to bring together its airlines operating in all airports around the world under one roof, to facilitate pbadenger transfers between different carrier flights, wherever opportunities are available and where it is warranted." Gurney said.
"We are working on unique opportunities at some of our most important gateways in Asia, the Americas and Europe, with the goal of providing the best possible experience for customers at each of these sites."
On the commercial side, oneworld will respond much more quickly to alliance contract requests, as opposed to a series of individual contracts with airlines. The Alliance's contracts generate $ 1 billion a year and since the process began six months ago, it has increased by 10%.
Other changes include a revised search for new members, which will see Royal Air Morocco become the first effective member of oneworld in six years and its first from Africa next year.
And oneworld is also making progress with oneworld connect, a membership for smaller and regional carriers that was created in 2018 and whose first member is Fiji Airways.
One world said that the connection platform would be completed by the end of March and discussions are progressing with other airlines from the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
Gurney said that the industry and consumer behavior have changed over the past two decades since the launch of the alliance.
"Most of our member airlines have undergone a complete restructuring. Some merged. At the first launch of oneworld, virtually no airline offers online booking. Smartphones were in the future. Social media did not exist. Air fares included everything. Low-cost carriers were in their infancy.
"Since then, global alliances have grown considerably in terms of membership but, to be honest, they have not been able to adapt to the changes that their members, the sector as a whole and the market have known.
"At oneworld, we compensate for that. As we enter our third decade, we are undergoing a radical transformation with a host of new initiatives to further strengthen the relevance of the alliance for our member airlines and our customers. "
The alliance currently serves 1100 airports in 180 territories with 14,000 daily departures. It carries nearly 550 million pbadengers a year on a combined fleet of 3,500 aircraft and generates a total annual turnover of $ 135 billion.
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