OREANDA-NEWS. April 04, 2014. TAM Airlines and US Airways completed their transition to oneworld – marking the biggest single-day expansion of the world’s leading quality airline alliance since its launch 15 years ago.

Both newcomers started offering oneworld’s services and benefits from their first flights this morning, on leaving the Star alliance after their final departures yesterday.

US Airways’ regional affiliates, operating as US Airways Express, also transitioned to oneworld this morning. 

The landmark addition of these airlines to oneworld is being celebrated at a ceremony today at TAM’s Sao Paulo hub, attended by the CEOs of the alliance’s established member airlines, during which TAM will show off the first of its aircraft painted in the oneworld livery and launch a massive marketing communications campaign to highlight its alliance move.

TAM and US Airways significantly expand oneworld on many key measures:

Increasing the number of passengers carried annually across the alliance network by a third, adding another 120 million customers a year.

Expanding the annual capacity offered by the alliance by 20 per cent.

Adding almost a hundred destinations to the oneworld network – a near 10 per cent increase.

What TAM brings to oneworld

As the leading airline in Brazil, TAM Airlines makes oneworld the leading alliance in Latin America’s largest economy and the world’s third largest market for domestic air travel. 

LAN Airlines, TAM’s partner in LATAM Airlines Group, has been a full member of oneworld since 2000 with all the other LAN passenger airlines joining the alliance as affiliate members since – LAN Argentina, LAN Colombia, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.

The addition of TAM consolidates oneworld’s position as the leading alliance for flights within Latin America and between the region and both the United States and Europe - the two most popular destinations for South American international travellers.

Using the two-letter code JJ, TAM serves 61 destinations in 16 countries in Latin America, the USA and Europe, with a fleet of 172 aircraft operating 800 departures daily.  It boarded 37 million passengers in 2013. 

It has added nearly 45 destinations in Brazil to the oneworld network, and its home base Sao Paulo, the biggest city in the Southern Hemisphere and in the Americas, becomes a new hub for oneworld.

Since lining up to join oneworld, TAM has been developing relationships with the alliance’s carriers and today code-shares with American Airlines and LAN Airlines.

What US Airways brings to oneworld

On its own, US Airways, now part of the American Airlines Group, is one of the world’s ten largest airlines on virtually all measures. 

Its merger with American Airlines has created the world’s largest airline on most measures.  With both American and US Airways on board, oneworld becomes the leading alliance in the USA, the world’s largest air travel market. 

Until the full integration of American Airlines and US Airways – which will see the combined airline retaining the American Airlines name – US Airways and its regional carriers will operate as oneworld affiliate members, under the American umbrella.

During the transition period as they work towards their full integration, American and US Airways will maintain their current loyalty programmes, American’s AAdvantage and US Airways’ Dividend Miles.

With its regional affiliates, US Airways serves more than 200 destinations and 30 countries with a fleet of more than 620 aircraft.  It carried 82.5 million passengers in 2013 and currently operates 3,200 departures a day.  It uses the two-letter code US, but this will be changed to AA once the two airlines combine under a single operating certificate.

It has added more than 50 destinations to the oneworld map – most in its US home but also two in Canada and one each in Ireland and Mexico – along with its key hubs of Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington DC’s Reagan National, expanding oneworld’s presence across the USA, particularly throughout the East Coast and across the North Atlantic.

Once the integration is completed, the new American will offer service to more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries, carrying 190 million passengers a year on a fleet of 1,500 aircraft.

About oneworld
oneworld is an alliance of the world’s leading airlines, committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers.  Its member airlines work together to deliver consistently a superior, seamless travel experience, with special privileges and rewards for frequent flyers, including earning and redeeming miles and points across the entire alliance network. Top tier cardholders (Emerald and Sapphire) enjoy access to more than 600 airport lounges. The most regular travellers (Emerald) can also use fast track security lanes at select airports and extra baggage allowances.

oneworld is currently the holder of an unprecedented eight leading international awards for airline alliances - named World’s Best Airline Alliance in the 2013 World Airline Awards by the independent Skytrax airline quality ratings agency, Best Airline Alliance in Business Traveller’s 2013 awards, by Premier Traveler in its Best of 2013 Readers’ Survey and by Air Transport News in its 2014 awards, the Best Airline Alliance by Global Traveler in its GT Tested Reader Survey 2013 Awards for the fourth year running, the World’s Leading Airline Alliance in the 2013 World Travel Awards for the 11th year running, Australian Business Traveller Best Airline Alliance in 2012 for the second year running, and FlightStats Airline Alliance On-Time Performance 2012 winner.