The Hindu Business Line : SkyTeam's expanding horizons

THE recent announcement by SkyTeam that Continental Airlines, the Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines are now full members of the alliance not only means that passengers will be able to accrue and redeem frequent flyer miles interchangeably on any of the nine member airlines, but also that the global airline alliance now serves 341 million passengers with 14,320 daily departures to 658 global destinations in more than 130 countries.

According to SkyTeam, the three new carriers add to the alliance's extensive network of hubs and destinations, allowing member airlines to provide their passengers more travel options.

The three new members add ten hub locations and 141 destinations to the alliance's roster, thereby strengthening its reach in all key travel regions.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Northwest's hub at Tokyo's Narita airport and Continental's at Guam will join Korean Air's Seoul-Incheon as SkyTeam's major hubs in the region, linking passengers to 11 new destinations in five countries. On offer in Asia include Northwest's new service from Portland, Oregon, to Tokyo-Narita and from Detroit to Guangzhou, China, which is scheduled to begin in later this month.

In addition, Continental is to start a new service between Honolulu and Nagoya, Japan, in December.

Besides, due to the combined network and fares, Air France and KLM are able to offer unparalleled services between Europe and Asia, the SkyTeam statement adds.

Similarly, in Europe SkyTeam will now offer passengers more choices on transatlantic routes. In addition in the Americas, with AeroMexico and Delta Airlines, the addition of Continental and Northwest will further open up services to and from Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition, Continental's extensive transatlantic network serving 19 destinations will also provide the alliance customers with additional service options from its international gateways in Houston and Newark/New York.

Northwest's Detroit and Minneapolis hubs will provide additional travel options for European customers bound for cities in the US Midwest, the statement adds.

In Africa, KLM's strong network will allow alliance passengers to access key cities such as Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Kano and Nairobi among others.

In addition to more travel options, SkyTeam member airlines will provide customers greater recognition in terms of frequent flyer mileage accrual and redemption possibilities.

Now passengers travelling with any of the nine member airlines can earn miles towards the SkyTeam Elite status and redeem them on any of the nine airline members.

This means travellers can accrue frequent flyer miles quicker than before. Besides, on the ground, SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers will have access to an additional 62 state-of-the-art airport lounges with amenities to make travel easier bringing the total number of such airport lounges to more than 390.

In addition, passengers will continue to enjoy the existing SkyTeam customer benefits, including a single check-in for connecting flights and baggage.

The international airlines which form part of the Alliance include AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines.