Becoming rather common these discussions…. 🙂
Ok, we have discussed the implications and advantages of many airlines joining alliances in the last few months, now it is the turn of Gulf Air and airlines in the Middle East in general. There are three majors in my eyes in the Middle East, Qatar, Emirates and Gulf Air. None of them are in any sort of alliance.
Yet rumours that have been circling for a while now suggest Gulf Air are in talks with Oneworld and Star to join one of the two, the latter seeming to be the preferred option. Now considering that the chief executive had strong links with Ansett and bmi it seems no surprise. However, Lufthansa has a good relationship with Qatar and so does Oneworld with Gulf, so which alliance do you think Gulf (or any other Middle Eastern airline for that matter) would best fit into?
Personally, I feel that Gulf Air would gain much more from an alliance like Skyteam who do not have a great presence in the Gulf area compared to Star who have a number of their European airlines with a heavy presence in this region. Then again if it joined Oneworld it could compliment its already existing relationship with British Airways and Qantas. Nevertheless, I would prefer to see Emirates in Oneworld even though they, along with Qatar, say they are interesting more on expansion than alliances at the moment.
So what are your opinions on the matter?
By: greekdude1 - 10th April 2003 at 00:40
I think that Korean Air is a formidable enough Asian airline, and member of Skyteam to provide connections in S.East Asia for Gulf Air, via the new airport at Inchon.
By: Saab 2000 - 9th April 2003 at 10:36
Yes, Emirates have turned more towards bilateral agreements rather than joining an alliance. Being the regions fastest growing airline with a major long-haul hub in Dubai, it is bound to be Star’s first choice. However, it has made clear that it does not want to join an alliance. Gulf Air on the other hand, has indicated that part of their turnaround strategy involves joining a global alliance within the next 6-12 months so I would think Star would be the likelihood for them.
Although I said I would like to see them in SkyTeam so they can gain entrance to the South East Asian region, it is really a disadvantage for Gulf Air. It has significant exposure to markets in Southeast Asia and could make use of feeder partners at the other end of its long-haul flights, but this would not be able to flourish as much with SkyTeam.
By: greekdude1 - 8th April 2003 at 23:26
United has codeshare flights with both Emirates and Saudi Arabian. You can also accrue UA mileage on either of those 2 carriers flights. It would make sense for either of those 2 to join Star in that respect. It’s amazing that a renowned airline like Emirates has yet to join one of the major alliances. They might be taking a similar stance to Virgin, to which Branson has stated that he has no plans of joining a major alliance anytime soon; even though Singapore has a 49% stake in them.
By: EGNM - 8th April 2003 at 19:56
we’ll have to see how they come out after the war!!!
By: gissur viking - 8th April 2003 at 19:48
You have omitted Saudia!
My vision is Gulf merged with Ek into Oneworld
Saudia into Star
Qatar into Skyteam
Sign In
April 8, 2003 at 7:42 pm