Whereas this was rumored way back to 2018, evidently discussions are as soon as once more happening over the prospect of China Southern becoming a member of the oneworld alliance.
Why China Southern might be part of oneworld
China Southern (by some metrics China’s largest airline) has had an attention-grabbing 5 years:
- In 2017, American Airways invested in China Southern, although the airline belonged to the SkyTeam alliance
- China Southern then left the SkyTeam alliance in 2019, after having been a member for 10 years; this got here across the identical time that Delta invested in SkyTeam member China Jap, that means there was little worth remaining for China Southern to remain within the alliance
- Whereas China Southern hasn’t been in an alliance for the previous few years, the airline has been more and more aligning with oneworld airways; not solely do American Airways and Qatar Airways have fairness stakes in China Southern, however British Airways and Finnair even have business agreements with China Southern
That brings us to the most recent replace. Danny Lee at Bloomberg stories that talks are as soon as once more happening about the opportunity of China Southern becoming a member of the oneworld alliance. That is based on individuals accustomed to the discussions, although allegedly no last choice has been made. Moreover, China’s entry restrictions have prevented in-person discussions from happening concerning this
Pre-pandemic, China was one of many largest and quickest rising worldwide aviation markets. Clearly it could be an enormous asset for oneworld to have an airline based mostly in mainland China, as each SkyTeam and Star Alliance have a number of member airways in mainland China.
On the identical time, on condition that China continues to kind of be reduce off from the remainder of the world, I can’t say I’m actually that invested on this a method or one other, because it’s not like most of us will be capable to journey to China anytime quickly (or would wish to, based mostly on the present scenario).
The issue with China Southern becoming a member of oneworld
Regardless of China being reduce off from the remainder of the world, on the floor it nonetheless feels like a web constructive for China Southern to hitch the oneworld alliance. In any case, extra alliance airways are higher than fewer alliance airways. However there’s a serious catch.
Cathay Pacific is a founding member of the oneworld alliance, and founding members have veto rights about which airways can be part of the alliance. There have been some fairly sturdy indications that Cathay Pacific isn’t down with China Southern becoming a member of the oneworld alliance. In any case, Guangzhou and Hong Kong are beneath 100 miles aside, so this may add fairly a little bit of competitors for Cathay Pacific.
I suppose it’s attainable that Cathay Pacific might have had a change of coronary heart because the begin of the pandemic, however I doubt it. Equally, I suppose it’s attainable that China Southern might be part of as a oneworld join member, however that’s of restricted worth.
This will get again to a rumor that has been round for years, which is that China Southern would be part of oneworld and Cathay Pacific would be part of Star Alliance. The premise of that is that Air China is the second largest investor in Cathay Pacific, so it’s logical for the 2 airways to cooperate extra on some stage. Alongside the identical strains, that additionally additional explains why Cathay Pacific might not need China Southern in oneworld.
At this level I believe it’s unlikely that Cathay Pacific leaves oneworld, not less than anytime within the close to future. I additionally don’t see Cathay Pacific being down with China Southern becoming a member of the alliance.
So my guess is that these will simply be continued discussions, and that not a lot will come of this. Or maybe China Southern will change into a oneworld join member, which might be a compromise.
Backside line
Discussions are as soon as once more allegedly happening between China Southern and oneworld, about the opportunity of the airline becoming a member of the alliance. Whereas oneworld would profit from having an airline in mainland China, I think about that Cathay Pacific would veto having a detailed competitor be part of the alliance.
So I don’t see this occurring, personally, however who is aware of…
What do you make of the prospect of China Southern becoming a member of oneworld?
