oneworld carriers again take top honours in latest Airline of the Year awardsoneworld member airlines have continued their winning ways in the industry’s latest award presentations, taking more honours collectively than carriers in both other alliances combined.

In the SkyTrax Airline of the Year awards, which are based on the world’s biggest survey of passengers, oneworld carriers took the top three positions, with British Airways in first place, Qantas second for the second year running and last year’s winner Cathay Pacific in third.

BA also took top place for best business class, with Qantas and Cathay fourth and fifth. In the regional categories, British Airways was named best transatlantic and European, Qantas took the titles as best transpacific and in Australasia and best Australasian regional, with Cathay best in Asia and LAN best South American regional.

The awards are based on SkyTrax’s annual world airline survey - the biggest such survey worldwide, with more than 13.5 million participants - carried out between September 2005 and May 2006 and measuring more than 35 different aspects of passenger satisfaction for each airline’s product and service standards.

Only the previous month, oneworld carriers swept the board also at the 2006 OAG Airline of the Year awards, taking eight top prizes while the two rival alliances managed just three each. Cathay Pacific was named OAG’s overall Airline of the Year, with British Airways gaining the best European and best transatlantic awards, LAN retained its title as best in Central/South America and Caribbean, and Qantas best in Australasia/Pacific, while American Airlines was recognised as airline of choice for travelers with disabilities.

oneworld itself is current holder of best alliance awards from Business Traveller and World Travel Awards.

East Midlands to join oneworld network as 28th destination in UK: A 28th destination in the UK is to join the oneworld network, with affiliate GB Airways launching services from East Midlands Airport, in Central England, to Tenerife South, from 31 October with an initial three flights a week. The airline will operate the service as a franchisee of BA Connect, the British Airways regional carrier. East Midlands has the three-letter code EMA. GB Airways is also to serve Tenerife South from Bristol from 3 October, also three days a week, again as a BA Connect franchisee.

Finnair spreads its wings to Geneva and Nagoya: Finnair has added Geneva and Nagoya to it network. It is now serving the Swiss city daily with Embraer 170s from its Helsinki hub, joining Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia there. Finnair already flies to Switzerland, with twice daily schedules to Zurich. Nagoya will be its third destination in Japan, alongside Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai. It is now serving the city’s new Centrair airport three times a week. Cathay Pacific is currently the only other oneworld carrier operating there, although it is a major centre for Japan Airlines, which is lining up to join the alliance.

American Eagle spreads wings across two new routes: American Eagle, American Airlines’ regional affiliate, which is part of oneworld, is launching two more US domestic non-stop routes from 6 September. It will connect Raleigh/Durham with Port Columbus twice daily and New York LaGuardia with Jacksonville daily, using Embraer 135 regional jets in both markets. The airline already serves all four airports from other gateways.

American opens second new Admirals Club at Miami: American Airlines has opened a second new Admirals Club lounge at Miami. The latest facility is on the Concourse A Mezzanine level. The latest lounge can seat 251 people. It also offers showers, a lounge bar and business centre. This is the second of two lounges developed as part of the airport’s new North Terminal Development Project. The Admirals Club lounge on Concourse D opened last November.
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