SimAirline.net - Viewpoint

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler was recently interviewed by Airline Business, sharing his personal background and his thoughts on and experience with structural changes in the Asian airline industry.

At its 10th anniversary meeting, oneworld's members announced increased alliance ties in both marketing and operational areas. As part of the marketing side, all members will repaint part of their fleets in the new oneworld livery. The oneworld logo will also appear more prominently alongside member's logos.

Governing Board Chairman and American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said that oneworld would continue to focus "on quality rather than quantity, on service rather than size. This is what makes oneworld stand out as an alliance and that will not change." Besides wanting members in Brazil, Russia, India, and China, there is "relatively little opportunity for expanding our roster without diluting the quality we offer our customers, or the value the alliance creates for its existing members." He futher pointed out that oneworld's profitability in the last decade was $11.3 billion vs. $9.3 billion for Star and -$19.5 billion by SkyTeam, despite having the smallest membership base.

My commentary: alliance recognition is certainly important, but oneworld has always been less alliance-centered than SkyTeam or Star Alliance, and it shows in the livery. However, Qualiflyer had a unique and I think classier approach to solidarity: create a unifying theme, in their case the blue belly.

A long-awaited agreement between China and Taiwan on direct flights has finally come, with the two sides agreeing to allow direct flights on weekends, starting on 4 July. The agreement allows for airlines on each side to operate eighteen weekly flights across the Taiwan Strait, as opposed to right now, when such flights are only offered during four holiday periods each year. However, most traffic will continue to flow via Hong Kong or Macau, which can more than double the trip length.

Normalization of economic relations between China and Taiwan are expected to progress further under new Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, which would likely include additional direct flights, to the detriment of Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair.

Update: flights are still required to fly over Hong Kong, although they will not have to land.