Malaysia Airlines to join oneworld on 1 February 2013

I am delighted and pleased to inform you that our airline, Malaysia Airlines, will become a full member of oneworld^® with effect from Friday, 1 February 2013.

As Chairman for the oneworld project steering committee, I am happy to share that Malaysia Airlines received clearance to board oneworld after successfully completing a thorough review of our readiness conducted by Qantas, which is sponsoring our entry into the alliance, with the oneworld central team.

While the alliance implementation programme is on track for completion in the coming weeks, the date to join oneworld is being held until the beginning of 2013 to avoid the end-of-year holiday season and for other administrative reasons.

Malaysia Airlines will start offering oneworld’s full range of services and benefits from 1 February 2013, when it becomes the alliance’s second airline operating the Airbus A380 after its oneworld sponsor Qantas.

The other 11 oneworld members are airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines. In addition, oneworld has around 20 affiliates including Austria’s NIKI, American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Later in 2013, SriLankan Airlines and Qatar Airlines are expected to join as full members. 
       

oneworld - An important & critical Game-Changer in our Business Plan

Our entry into oneworld provides strong customer and business propositions for Malaysia Airlines. We will:

• Strengthen our competitive position considerably with an increased network of international destinations which will enable us to

• Expand our global coverage to 840 destinations in 156 countries. Add oneworld’s other members elect – Qatar Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines – and the alliance network reaches to 856 destinations in 159 countries.
• Be served by some 9,000 departures a day operated by a combined fleet of some 2,500 aircraft.
• Be part of an airline alliance that carries nearly 340 million passengers a year, with annual revenues of USD110 billion. 

• Enable our customers to enjoy a truly global network together with our partners that include some of the best and biggest airlines in the world.
• Improve visibility of Malaysia Airlines’ network – serving more than 60 destinations in nearly 30 countries – will be covered by oneworld’s full and extensive range of alliance fares and sales products. We bring to the alliance a strong South East Asia network of 14 destinations and Brunei and strengthen the alliance connectivity between many Asian cities and other parts of the world.
• Enable us also to tap financial benefits that come from being part of a global alliance, through additional passenger feed and cost reduction opportunities. 

Benefits to enjoy on 1 February 2013

• Global airport lounges access - Enrich Platinum and Gold members will be able to use any of 550 airport lounges worldwide offered by oneworld member airlines whenever they fly with any of the alliance’s carriers. (Enrich Platinum cardholders will have Emerald status in the oneworld programme. Enrich Gold will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire and Enrich Silver will be oneworld Ruby.)
• Our First and Business Class passengers will also be able to use oneworld partner airline lounges. 
• More options to earn and burn – With oneworld, Enrich members will have more options to earn and redeem frequent flyer points. Similarly, approximately 125 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programmes can earn and redeem awards and tier status points as well as receive all other oneworld benefits on Malaysia Airlines.

The Final Lap and going further – Everyone is needed on board from ground to air

We have made good progress in a short time to join a prestigious airline alliance. All this is because of the hardwork, commitment and team spirit from the project team and so many others in business units and stations systemwide working on the Malaysia Airlines – oneworld project.

Critical milestones and sign-offs have been completed - for safety, group handling, training, Master Carrier Document (MCD), customer relations, brand awareness survey, fare class alignment, brand guidelines, global distribution systems (GDS). We have also made significant progress in the system integration for the frequent flyer programme (Commercial & Operations), lounges and revenue accounting.

The next 13 weeks will be absolutely critical for each one of us. There is much to do. We must closely work together and support each other.

This is truly an opportunity for us to serve a much larger and wider base of oneworld customers flying on Malaysia Airlines. These guests (now our customers too) will connect and interact with so many of us at the various customer touchpoints where they will experience our services and products. So it is also important that we keeping raising the Malaysia Airlines hospitality, experience and service levels from ground to air.

On the eve of our entry, there will be a joining event on 31 January 2013 right here in Kuala Lumpur. The other oneworld CEOs are expected to fly into Kuala Lumpur to witness this historic moment not only for us but also for Malaysia together with other important guests and stakeholders.

I seek your help and active involvement. I am confident that the Malaysia Airlines spirit will come through strongly with everyone pulling together to make sure Malaysia Airlines is a shining star on 1 February 2013 and going further.