oneworld® alliance partners American Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL)  today announced a host of customer benefits planned from the start of their new transpacific joint business, effective 1 April 2011.

Building on their established relationship as oneworld members, the two airlines are embarking on a joint business venture covering their operations between North America and Asia, offering customers more routing choices, greater access to a wider variety of fares, reduced connection times and greater convenience.

With effect from the start of their summer 2011 flying schedules - 27 March for JAL and 5 April for American -,they will align their schedules at Tokyo Narita and Tokyo Haneda and at the key North American cities of New York, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles - four of American’s five cornerstone markets.  This schedule alignment will provide travellers with a greater choice in scheduled flight times, while reducing connection times and overall travel times to many destinations and increasing potential connections to more points.

In addition, the two airlines also plan to increase code-sharing to a total of 123 routes over the next few months, increasing the number of destination choices available to customers.  This will make it easier for customers to travel on the airlines’ combined route networks.

Additional future customer benefits of their joint business include:

A special commemorative Economy Class fare for sale in Japan for travel between Japan and the United States. Sales begin today for travel between February and March.
On-line check in and boarding pass printing with either the airline operating the flight, or the one the ticket was booked through.
Integrated on-line flight information on both airlines’ websites.
Increased opportunity for mileage promotions for frequent flyers on both airlines.
More integrated pricing and programmes for corporate customers and travel agencies.
Besides the joint business between Asia and North America which American and Japan Airlines will start this April, JAL has also been moving ahead fast with other oneworld airlines to deepen its participation in the alliance to maximise its revenue opportunities and deliver considerable advantages to customers.

oneworld Chief Executive Bruce Ashby said: “Japan Airlines is a highly valued member of oneworld and all of us throughout the world’s premier alliance are committed to working more closely with JAL as it establishes itself as an even stronger airline and partner, for the benefit of our customers, employees and all stakeholders.  The rapid progress we have achieved so far is testimony to oneworld’s commitment to Japan and Japanese customers.

“We are confident that in an increasingly alliance-focused airline industry, Japan Airlines’ renewed approach to oneworld and its partners, and the impending launch of its joint business with American will significantly further strengthen oneworld’s competitiveness, and place us in a better position to contend for a bigger piece of market share over the Pacific.”

American Airlines President Tom Horton stated: “We are pleased to partner with Japan Airlines to bring expanded benefits to our customers.  We firmly believe our joint business will benefit all stakeholders - our customers, our financial partners, and our employees.  Japan Airlines has been an excellent partner, and together, we are preparing for the next decade - a decade that is likely to see growth in air travel between North America and Asia.”

JAL President Masaru Onishi added: “We are delighted to begin bringing our customers the benefits of our joint business with American Airlines.  With our complementary strengths, the Japan Airlines-American team is well positioned to pursue further service enhancements for our customers and greater synergies for our businesses. Japan Airlines is strongly committed to our corporate revitalization, and I am confident that this joint business will raise our competitiveness in this vital region, improve our profitability and aid us in achieving our goal.”