SkyTeam

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SkyTeam
Launch date		22 June 2000
Members	Full	11
	Non-voting	3
	Pending	3
Destinations	Airports	905
	Countries	169
Annual passengers (m)		462 million (Total Frequent Flyer Members = 152 million)
Fleet size		2,971 (member airlines and their susidiaries), (+1,255 from related carriers)
Management		Leo van Wijk (Chairman)
Website		www.SkyTeam.com

SkyTeam is the second largest airline alliance in the world — behind Star Alliance — partnering fourteen carriers from four continents. SkyTeam also operates a cargo alliance called SkyTeam Cargo.

When the merger of Northwest Airlines with Delta Air Lines is complete, SkyTeam will consist of 10 full members (and 3 associate members). Once Continental Airlines and Copa Airlines both depart SkyTeam on 24 October 2009 (with Continental Airlines joining Star Alliance on the next day), only 9 full members and 2 associate members will remain. However, the joining of Vietnam Airlines in early 2010 will bring the total number of full member airlines in the alliance back up to 10.

The alliance's centralised management team, called SkyTeam Central, which has just been formed recently,^[when?] is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Membership history 2 Member airlines 2.1 Full members and their member & non-member affiliates 2.2 Associate member airlines 2.3 Future Full member airlines 2.4 Future Associate member airlines 2.5 Potential future full members 2.6 Potential future associate members 3 Co-locations 4 Premium status 4.1 SkyTeam Elite 4.2 SkyTeam Elite Plus 5 SkyTeam Special Livery 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Membership history

• 2000 — Aeroméxico, Air France, Delta Air Lines, and Korean Air launched the SkyTeam alliance on 22 June.
• 2001 — CSA Czech Airlines (in March) and Alitalia (on 27 July) joined.
• 2004 — Continental Airlines, KLM and Northwest Airlines joined on 13 September. Their simultaneous entry was the largest expansion event in airline alliance history. As a result of the three new members, SkyTeam passed Oneworld to become the second largest alliance.
• 2005 — Even though member CSA pledged to help Malév Hungarian Airlines become an associate member of the alliance (as opposed to a full member, an associate has no voting rights), Malév opted to join the Oneworld alliance, signing a Memorandum Of Understanding late in May. A few days later SkyTeam announced four new associate members due to join by 2006, each one being "sponsored" by an existing member: Madrid-based Air Europa (sponsored by Air France), Panama-based Copa Airlines (sponsored and partly owned by Continental Airlines), Kenya Airways (sponsored and partly owned by KLM) and Romania's Tarom (sponsored by Alitalia). Every associate adopted a frequent flyer program of a full member: Copa Airlines already used Continental's OnePass while Kenya Airways and Air Europa used Air France-KLM's Flying Blue.
• 2006 — Aeroflot joined on 14 April. Middle East Airlines was invited to become an associate member.^[1]
• 2007 — Air Europa, Copa Airlines, Kenya Airways became associate members of the alliance on 1 September. China Southern Airlines joined SkyTeam on November 15 to become the 11th full member and the first carrier from Mainland China to join SkyTeam.^[2]
• 2008 - Continental Airlines and Copa Airlines have announced their intentions to move to the Star Alliance after Continental's final flight on 24 October 2009.^[3][4]
• 2009 - Vietnam Airlines is invited to join in April^[5].

[edit] Member airlines

[edit] Full members and their member & non-member affiliates

Airline	Country	Joined	Affiliates	Non-member Affiliates
Aeroméxico1	Mexico	2000	Aeroméxico Connect Aeroméxico Travel	-
Air France1	France	2000	Brit Air CityJet Régional VLM Airlines	-
Delta Air Lines1	United States	2000	Delta Connection Delta Shuttle	Delta AirElite
Korean Air1	South Korea	2000	-	Jin Air
Czech Airlines	Czech Republic	2001	-	-
Alitalia	Italy	2001	Alitalia Express	Air One Air One CityLiner
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	Netherlands	2004	KLM cityhopper	Martinair Transavia Airlines
Northwest Airlines2	United States	2004	Northwest Airlink	-
Continental Airlines3	United States	2004	Continental Connection Continental Express Continental Micronesia	-
Aeroflot	Russia	2006	Aeroflot-Don Aeroflot-Nord	-
China Southern Airlines	China	2007	-	Chongqing Airlines Xiamen Airlines

¹ Founding member
² Northwest Airlines in undergoing a merger with Delta Air Lines and will be a full member until operating certificates are merged into one
³ Continental Airlines will leave SkyTeam after its last flight on 24 October 2009 to join Star Alliance starting the following day.

[edit] Associate member airlines

Airline	Country	Joined	Affiliates	Non-Associate member affiliates	Sponsoring SkyTeam member
Air Europa	Spain	2007	-	-	Air France
Kenya Airways	Kenya	2007	-	-	KLM
Copa Airlines1	Panama	2007	-	Aero República	Continental Airlines

¹ On 12 May 2009, Copa Airlines announced that it would leave SkyTeam together with Continental Airlines on 24 October 2009. [3]

[edit] Future Full member airlines

Airline	Country	Joining	Affiliates	Notes
Vietnam Airlines	Vietnam	2010	VASCO	Announced 15 April 2009 [4]

[edit] Future Associate member airlines

Airline	Country	Joining	Affiliates	Sponsor Airline
Middle East Airlines	Lebanon	2009	-	Air France
TAROM	Romania	2009	-	Air France (since May 2008; initially Alitalia)

[edit] Potential future full members

Note that there is much speculation about non-aligned airlines joining one of the global alliances. The list below includes airlines that have expressed their desire or are in ongoing negotiations to join SkyTeam.

• Air Algérie - In 2006, Air Algérie applied for admission to the alliance; its application has been sponsored by Air France. Air Algérie has been on the waiting list for membership since 2005 and plans to join the alliance in 2009-2010. SkyTeam hopes to integrate Air Algérie into the alliance and begin the use of electronic ticketing and launch a frequent flyer program for the airline named Air Algérie Plus. The SkyTeam also anticipates the purchase of new aircraft by Air Algérie.^[6]
• Air Tahiti Nui considers joining SkyTeam after reviewing options with other alliances which all are well established in the South Pacific ^[7]
• Alaska Airlines - In 2008 Alaska Airlines started a Marketing Alliance with Delta Air Lines.
• China Airlines - China Airlines already has extensive codeshare agreements with Delta Air Lines, Korean Air, Northwest Airlines, Czech Airlines, and Alitalia, and their vice president has also announced an intention to apply for membership by 2008. ^[8] They are set to be announced as the next full member of SkyTeam in late 2008 and have been in informal discussions since Fall 2007. ^[9]. In June 2008 the carrier have signed memorandum of co-operation with China Southern Airlines in the areas of passenger, cargo, maintenance, and ground handling operations ^[10]
• China Eastern Airlines - Air France, along with China Southern^[11] are lobbying at China Eastern Airlines to join the alliance, but the airline is also considering joining oneworld as they have codeshare agreements with American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Qantas.^[12][13] The Chinese government considered a merger Shanghai Airlines, which is a member of Star Alliance, in which it was successful.^[14]
  • Shanghai Airlines - Shanghai Airlines may leave Star Alliance after merger with China Eastern Airlines.^[15]
• Garuda Indonesia - In June 2008, Garuda Indonesia has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Korean Air, in which Korean Air will support Garuda in joining SkyTeam. ^[16][17]
• Gol Airlines - SkyTeam is continuing to pursue its plans to add a Brazilian carrier in the alliance. It "has been talking with Gol in Brazil", says van Wijk. Gol is also the owner of Varig. ^[18] Air France and Gol Airlines are planning codeshare flights (at this moment, passengers flying either Air France/KLM or Gol/Varig are able to credit flight mileage to each others Frequent Flyer Program). ^[19]
• Jet Airways - Leo van Wijk stated in a statement that SkyTeam is looking to add an Indian carrier in the near future counting on Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. ^[18] Unfortunately, Oneworld airlines have the majority of codeshares (particularly American Airlines); they are in discussion of a possible membership to SkyTeam in June 2009.^{[citation needed]}
• Kingfisher Airlines - Is in informal discussions to join the alliance. Currently Northwest Airlines (part of Delta Air Lines) have partnership agreements with its frequent flyer program.^[20]
• Malaysia Airlines - Malaysia Airlines reached an agreement with Air France-KLM to upgrade their codeshare agreements into an alliance in 2006. While there is no timetable for Malaysia Airlines to join SkyTeam, their restructuring plan puts 2009-2010 as the target years.^[21] Malaysia Airlines also reached an agreement with Alitalia and China Southern Airlines, SkyTeam members, to start code-sharing in 2007.^[22]

[edit] Potential future associate members

• Bangkok Airways - SkyTeam has been speaking with Bangkok ­Airways of Thailand about a ­possible affiliate membership. ^[23]
• Uzbekistan Airways - Have announced in July 2008 that they are set to become a SkyTeam member after being sponsored by Korean Air. ^[24][25]

[edit] Co-locations

• Beijing Capital International Airport: Terminal 2
• Tokyo Narita International Airport: Terminal 1 North Wing, except that China Southern Airlines currently operates from Terminal 2.
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport: McNamara Terminal
• Mexico City International Airport: Terminal 2 Air France, and KLM are not moving their operations until the new cargo terminal is built aside Terminal 2, since the existing one is at the other side of the airport.
• Toronto Pearson International Airport: Terminal 3, except that Alitalia currently operates from Terminal 1.
• London Heathrow Airport: Terminal 4 During 2009, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, CSA and Korean Air will move to Terminal 4, completing the entire SkyTeam alliance at Terminal 4.
• Madrid Barajas Airport: Terminal 1 for international flights and Terminal 2 for European and domestic flights.
• Monterrey General Mariano Escobedo International Airport: When terminal B opens Aeromexico, Aeromexico Connect and Sky Team member airlines will move into the new terminal
• Newark Liberty International Airport: Terminal B houses Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Air France and Alitalia.
• Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport: Terminals 2E and 2F2 handle all international members, terminals 2D and 2F1 all european; Air France operates from 2C,2D,2E,2F and 2G.
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport: Terminal 3
• Incheon International Airport: East Side of Main Terminal for check-in

[edit] Premium status

SkyTeam has two premium levels, Elite and Elite Plus, based on a customer's tier status in a member carrier's frequent flyer program. Each of the member and associate airlines recognises the elite statuses, with a few exceptions. The statuses have no specific requirements of their own; membership is based solely on the frequent flyer programs of individual member airlines.

[edit] SkyTeam Elite

SkyTeam Elite status is awarded to customers who have reached the premium level of a member carrier's frequent flyer program.

Benefits of SkyTeam Elite membership:

• Priority reservations waitlisting
• Priority airport standby
• Priority boarding
• Priority check-in
• Preferred seating

Membership tiers granting SkyTeam Elite:

• Aeroflot (Aeroflot Bonus) - Silver
• Aeromexico (Club Premier) - Gold
• Air France-KLM (Flying Blue) - Gold (for residents of US and Mexico), Silver
• Alitalia (MilleMiglia) - Freccia Alata
• China Southern Airlines (Sky Pearl Club) – Silver
• Continental (OnePass) - Gold, Silver
• Czech (OK Plus) - Silver
• Delta (SkyMiles) - Gold Medallion, Silver Medallion
• Korean Air (SKYPASS) - Morning Calm
• Northwest (WorldPerks) - Gold, Silver

[edit] SkyTeam Elite Plus

SkyTeam Elite Plus status is awarded to customers who have reached the higher premium level of a member carrier's frequent flyer program.

Benefits of SkyTeam Elite Plus membership:

• Priority reservations waitlisting
• Priority airport standby
• Priority boarding
• Priority airport check-in
• Preferred seating
• Priority baggage handling
• Additional checked luggage allowance
• Airport lounge access
• Guaranteed reservations on sold-out flights
• Express airport security (in some hub airports)

Membership tiers granting SkyTeam Elite Plus:

• Aeroflot (Aeroflot Bonus) - Gold
• Aeromexico (Club Premier) - Platinum
• Air France-KLM (Flying Blue) - Platinum, Gold (for non-US/Mexican residents)
• Alitalia (MilleMiglia) - Freccia Alata Plus
• China Southern - Gold, Platinum
• Continental (OnePass) - Platinum
• Czech (OK Plus) - Gold, Platinum
• Delta (SkyMiles) - Platinum Medallion
• Korean Air (SKYPASS) - Million Miler, Premium
• Northwest (WorldPerks) - Platinum

[edit] SkyTeam Special Livery

SkyTeam launched recently a special livery celebrating 10 years

Current:

• Delta Air Lines B-767-400ER N844MH (April 2009)
• Czech Airlines ATR-42 OK-JFL (May 2009)
• Aeromexico B-767-200ER XA-JBC (May 2009)
• Alitalia B-767-300ER EI-DBP (May 2009)
• Air France B-777-300ER F-GZNE (June 2009)
• China Southern Airlines B-777-200ER B-2056 (June 2009)

Pending:

• KLM B-777-300ER PH-BVD(August 2009)
• Korean Air A330-200 (October 2009)
• Aeroflot A330-200 (November 2009)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official SkyTeam website
• Skyteam Cargo

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