Oneworld growth: Oman Air, more lounges and alliance-wide upgrades

The Oneworld alliance plans to welcome its newest member, Oman Air, as soon as the end of the month.

The Muscat-based airline and the alliance are due to sign the final paperwork by the end of the month, ending the carrier's yearslong membership process, Oneworld CEO Nathaniel Pieper said at the aviation trade group International Air Transport Association's annual meeting in New Delhi at the beginning of June.

That means any Oneworld flyer will have easy access to Oman Air's route map, and loyalty members can expect reciprocal tier benefits.

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Oman Air adds a second Gulf hub, Muscat International Airport (MCT), to the alliance after Qatar Airways' hub at Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha. That means additional travel options for flyers in the rapidly growing Middle East region. The airline also adds two new destinations to Oneworld: Khasab Airport (KHS) in Oman, and Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (LKO) in Lucknow, India, schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.

With Oman Air, Oneworld will boast 15 member airlines, including Fiji Airways, which fully joined in March.

More Oneworld lounges coming

Oneworld opened its first two alliance lounges in 2024 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and Incheon International Airport (ICN) near Seoul, South Korea.

Pieper described the lounges, both of which opened before he took the helm of the alliance in April 2024, as something of a proof-of-concept to Oneworld's member airlines, each of which has its own standards.

Now, with the grades in, Oneworld's members want more lounges.

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"The goal is to have another five, six, 10 [lounges] over the next three to five years," said Pieper.

Oneworld's competitors already operate global portfolios of lounges. The SkyTeam alliance operates four lounges, with locations in Dubai; Sydney; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Santiago, Chile. Star Alliance has six lounges: Amsterdam; Buenos Aires; Guangzhou, China; Los Angeles; Paris; and Rio de Janeiro.

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Oneworld is looking at markets where there is a critical mass of member airlines but no one dominant carrier, said Pieper. Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in New Delhi; Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) in Bengaluru, India; and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) in Mumbai, India, are three potential candidates, though each poses its own challenge as Indian airport operators prefer to manage lounges themselves.

And the lounges do more than just cater to Oneworld's existing customers.

"A lounge is a great way to kind of get the word out [about] this group of airlines ... and raise awareness," said Pieper.

Alliance-wide upgrades by year-end

Oneworld's long-teased alliance-wide upgrade program might finally be nearing completion by the end of the year. In the works since at least 2020, the initiative would allow flyers to use miles from any member loyalty program to upgrade flights on any other member airline.

For example, a member of American Airlines' AAdvantage program could use their miles to upgrade a flight on Qantas Airways and vice versa.

Seven of Oneworld's 15 members already participate in the upgrade program, with the remaining eight expected to come online in the coming months, said Pieper.

"This is important, we need to get it done," he said, citing the struggle to secure resources at each airline member to implement the technology behind alliance-wide upgrades.

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