Revenues at the oneworld reached record levels in 2010, with the alliance generating more than US$850 million.

In a double celebration, oneworld was voted the World’s Leading Airline Alliance by the prestigious World Travel Awards for the eighth consecutive year in 2010.

oneworld alliance fares, corporate contracts and other alliance sales activity grew year-on-year by 34 per cent last year - during a period when its member airlines’ combined overall passenger revenues grew two per cent, to US$57 billion.

Revenues from corporate contracts - sales deals with multinationals involving at least seven oneworld member airlines - more than doubled, with more and more international businesses seeking deals with alliances rather than with individual airlines.

Interline revenues within oneworld - money generated by the eight million passengers transferring in 2010 to one of the alliance’s member airlines from another - also reached their pre-recession levels, at US$2.2 billion, up 17 per cent year-on-year. 

oneworld Developments

Other significant developments at oneworld saw the addition of S7 Airlines, Russia’s leading domestic carrier in December last year, while Kingfisher Airlines and airberlin are set to join in early 2012.

The appointment of industry veteran Bruce Ashby as the new oneworld chief executive also boosted the organisation.

Ashby said: “The results from the past year make abundantly clear the growing value oneworld represents to all its key stakeholders.

“In an industry where profit margins are thin at best, revenues and cost savings from oneworld make an increasingly important contribution to our member airlines’ financial standings.

“Revenues earned by our member airlines from their oneworld activities have shown remarkable resilience to the recession, bouncing back reassuringly rapidly and robustly from the global downturn.”