page_title: Airline
section_title: Partnerships
hierarchical_section_title: Airline / Economy / Partnerships
caption_attribution_description: English: World map showing 3 major airline alliances and the current fleet size of their home carrier (Excluding subsidiaries, cargo and connecting partners). Valid from 1 May 2020. Star Alliance (Grey), SkyTeam (Blue), Oneworld (Purple); Data retrieved from Planespotter.net on 27 April 2020 Deutsch: Weltkarte mit den drei wichtigsten Luftfahrtallianz und der aktuellen Flottengröße (Ohne Tochterunternehmen, Fracht und verbundenen Partnern). Gültig ab 1 Mai 2020. Star Alliance (Grau), SkyTeam (Blau), Oneworld (Lila); Daten wurden am 27. April 2020 von Planespotter.net abgerufen. Nederlands: Wereldkaart met de 3 grote luchtvaartallianties en de huidige vloot grootte van hun nationale luchtvaartmaatschappij (zonder dochterondernemingen, vracht en aangesloten partners). Geldig vanaf 1 mei 2020. Star Alliance (grijs), SkyTeam (blauw), Oneworld (paars); Gegevens opgehaald van Planespotter.net op 27 april 2020.
context_page_description: An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines utilize aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which they both offer and operate the same flight. Generally, airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body. Airlines may be scheduled or charter operators.
  The first airline was the German airship company DELAG, founded on 16 November 1909. The four oldest non-airship airlines that still exist are the Netherlands' KLM, Colombia's Avianca, Australia's Qantas and the Czech Republic's Czech Airlines.
  Airline ownership has seen a shift from mostly personal ownership until the 1930s to government-ownership of major airlines from the 1940s to 1980s and back to large-scale privatization following the mid-1980s. Since the 1980s, there has also been a trend of major airline mergers and the formation of airline alliances. The largest alliances are Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld, and these three collectively accounted for more than 60% of global commercial air traffic in 2015.
context_section_description: Codesharing is the most common type of airline partnership; it involves one airline selling tickets for another airline's flights under its own airline code. An early example of this was Japan Airlines' (JAL) codesharing partnership with Aeroflot in the 1960s on Tokyo–Moscow flights; Aeroflot operated the flights using Aeroflot aircraft, but JAL sold tickets for the flights as if they were JAL flights. This practice allows airlines to expand their operations, at least on paper, into parts of the world where they cannot afford to establish bases or purchase aircraft. Another example was the Austrian–Sabena partnership on the Vienna–Brussels–New York/JFK route during the late '60s, using a Sabena Boeing 707 with Austrian livery.
  Since airline reservation requests are often made by city-pair (such as "show me flights from Chicago to Düsseldorf"), an airline that can codeshare with another airline for a variety of routes might be able to be listed as indeed offering a Chicago–Düsseldorf flight. The passenger is advised however, that airline no. 1 operates the flight from say Chicago to Amsterdam, and airline no. 2 operates the continuing flight (on a different airplane, sometimes from another terminal) to Düsseldorf. Thus the primary rationale for code sharing is to expand one's service offerings in city-pair terms to increase sales.
  A more recent development is the airline alliance, which became prevalent in the late 1990s. These alliances can act as virtual mergers to get around government restrictions. The largest are Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld, and these accounted for over 60% of global commercial air traffic as of 2015. Alliances of airlines coordinate their passenger service programs (such as lounges and frequent-flyer programs), offer special interline tickets and often engage in extensive codesharing (sometimes systemwide). These are increasingly integrated business combinations—sometimes including cross-equity arrangements—in which products, service standards, schedules, and airport facilities are standardized and combined for higher efficiency. One of the first airlines to start an alliance with another airline was KLM, who partnered with Northwest Airlines. Both airlines later entered the SkyTeam alliance after the fusion of KLM and Air France in 2004.
  Often the companies combine IT operations, or purchase fuel and aircraft as a bloc to achieve higher bargaining power. However, the alliances have been most successful at purchasing invisible supplies and services, such as fuel. Airlines usually prefer to purchase items visible to their passengers to differentiate themselves from local competitors. If an airline's main domestic competitor flies Boeing airliners, then the airline may prefer to use Airbus aircraft regardless of what the rest of the alliance chooses.
caption: The 3 major airline alliance and the current fleet size of their home carrier (excluding subsidiaries, cargo and connecting partners) - from May 2020   Star Alliance    SkyTeam    Oneworld
exif: {}