aword from oneworld: June 2007

Lead-in prices for most popular fares now displayed on oneworld.com: Lead-in prices for oneworld®'s Explorer and Circle fares from virtually every country worldwide are now posted live on oneworld.com, enabling customers to get an immediate estimated price for the alliance's most popular ticket types. Taxes and fees are excluded, as these vary airport by airport.  For further details, see oneworld's air travel options.

Guides to key cities expanded at alliance website: Guides to key oneworld destinations are now available at oneworld.com, with the existing airport details upgraded to include general information for visitors traveling to the cities, such as key statistics, hotel options, sight seeing tips and advice on local business etiquette. See oneworld.com's city guides

BA FFP members can book award flights on alliance partners at ba.com: Members of British Airways' Executive Club frequent flyer programme can now book, change and cancel award flights on all other oneworld members airlines on-line, via ba.com For further information, see ba.com

Links between key oneworld hubs improved: Links between a number of key oneworld hubs are being improved by the alliance's carriers, smoothing connections between their networks and making it even easier to reach more places around the world.

Malév launches code-sharing with American and Royal Jordanian: Malév Hungarian Airlines, which joined the alliance on 1 April, is to start code-sharing with American Airlines and fellow new oneworld recruit Royal Jordanian, smoothing connections between their route networks.

It has already started code-sharing with American, with the AA prefix added to flights operated by Malév between its Budapest base and New York JFK, Frankfurt and Zurich, while the latter's MA designator is being placed on services flown by American between Zurich and both Chicago O'Hare and New York JFK, and between both those US gateways and Los Angeles.

After the implementation of US-European open skies next March, their code-sharing arrangements will be expanded to more points across Eastern Europe and 16 more cities in the US and Caribbean.

It will start code-sharing with Royal Jordanian from 28 July, on the latter's new twice-weekly service between their Amman and Budapest hubs, with plans to expand to RJ destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Delhi, Dubai and Mumbai and Malév gateways Berlin and Copenhagen.

Two more destinations in Americas join oneworld network: Another destination in Latin America and one more in the USA are to join the oneworld network:

• Barranquila (BAQ) will be the fourth city in Colombia on the alliance's map when American Airlines launches daily two-class Boeing 737-800s flights to and from its Miami hub from 13 December. American already flies to Bogota, Cali and Medellin in Colombia, with Iberia and LAN also serving Bogota.
•  Roswell (ROW) will be the alliance's second gateway in New Mexico when regional affiliate American Eagle opens twice-daily flights to and from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub from 5 September. Its Embraer ERJ145s will be the only jets serving the city on scheduled service.

Finnair to be fourth oneworld airline to serve Seoul: Seoul is to be the latest destination in Asia served by Finnair, with an initial five Airbus A340-300s a week between the South Korean capital and the airline's Helsinki home. It will become the fourth oneworld airline to serve the city, with Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines offering year-round services to its Incheon airport, and Qantas flying there on a seasonal basis. JAL also operates to the city's other main airport, Gimpo. Finnair will be the only airline flying between Seoul and northern Europe, with excellent connections across the continent at its Helsinki hub.  This week, Finnair also launched its new flights to Mumbai, joining British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Royal Jordanian in serving the Indian city.

Qantas to open second route to Shanghai, from Melbourne: Qantas is to open a second route to Shanghai, while upping Los Angeles and South African frequencies. It will serve the Mainland China commercial centre from Melbourne with two Airbus A330s a week from March, while upping freuqneices from Sydney to five a week from August. Its additional Los Angeles services will include another two weeklies from Brisbane, taking the schedule to daily, and one more a week from Sydney, both from March. To South Africa, it will add a sixth weekly flight from November 2008.

American adds new USA routes: American Airlines is continuing its expansion of services from New York, this time by opening mainline flights between LaGuardia and Minneapolis/St. Paul, with an initial three Boeing MD80 round-trips a day. It is also increasing frequencies from New York JFK and Chicago O'Hare to three a day mainline and by its regional affiliate. In total, between all its New York gateways - LaGuardia, Newburgh/Stewart, Newark and White Plains/Westchester besides JFK - it will now fly 40 times a day between the Big Apple and Chicago O'Hare.

Also from its O'Hare hub, its regional affiliate American Eagle will open services to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with an initial daily Embraer ERJ145 non-stop. It already serves Fort Walton Beach twice-daily from Dallas/Fort Worth.

Meantime, the group will open a seventh route to Northwest Arkansas, with American Eagle connecting the airport with Washington National Reagan with Embraer ERJ-135s, while American Eagle will also open a second route to Flint, Michigan, with new dailies from Dallas/Fort Worth to complement its existing Chicago O'Hare services.

Iberia now issues only electronic tickets for domestic flights: Iberia is now issuing only electronic tickets for passengers flying on its Spanish domestic routes. It claims to be the leading airline in Europe in using e-tickets with almost 99,5 per cent of passengers on its domestic routes using them, and 95 per cent on its international routes.

American moves JFK international operations into new terminal: American Airlines has moved its international service at New York JFK into Concourse B of its new US$1.3 billion terminal, "setting the stage for improving the travel experience for passengers arriving into and departing from" the hub. American flies from JFK to 38 destinations, 23 of them international, with 92 flights a day, carrying 8,5 million passengers a year. oneworld partners Finnair and Malév Hungarian Airlines operate alongside it at the terminal.

Executive Vice-President Marketing Dan Garton said: "This terminal represents one of the biggest, boldest and most expensive projects in American Airlines' history, and it underscores our commitment to JFK and New York and our determination to preserve New York's status as one of the world's premier domestic and international gateways. It also reaffirms our commitment to provide our customers with the best possible travel experience."

Qantas opens new First Class lounges at its Sydney and Melbourne hubs: Qantas has opened new lounges and check-in processes for its First class at Sydney and Melbourne, which it describes as "simply the best in the world", with services equal to those found in the world's best five star hotels and restaurants.

Its new premium check-in service at the two airports enables First class customers to check-in before arriving at the terminal and be greeted at the kerb by a Qantas agent and porter.

The new flagship lounges, designed by internationally renowned Australian industrial designer Marc Newson, can be used by frequent flyers from any oneworld member airline with an Emerald tier equivalent membership card: It features a 48-seat open kitchen restaurant with menus by top Sydney chef Neil Perry, a chair-side waiter service throughout the lounge and a full concierge service, helping customers book a restaurant in any city around the world or get tickets to the latest Broadway musical,

oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas and, since 1 April, Japan Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

oneworld was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fourth year running in the 2006 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by some 170.000 travel professionals, including more than 110.000 travel agents in 200 countries