Mexicana to join oneworld

Mexicana is to join oneworld^®. Mexico and Central America's leading airline today accepted a formal invitation to become part of the world's leading quality airline alliance after being unanimously elected on board by the grouping's existing ten member airlines, which include some of the biggest and best names in the industry.

Its subsidiary Click Mexicana will join at the same time, as an affiliate member of oneworld.

 

Their joining process is expected to take 12 to 18 months to complete, with Iberia supporting Mexicana through these tasks, as its prime oneworld sponsor, assisted by American Airlines.

So Mexicana and Click Mexicana will be flying as part of oneworld in 2009, when they will start offering the alliance's full range of services and benefits to their own customers and those from their new oneworld partners.

 

For Mexicana, joining oneworld will strengthen its competitive offering and its financial position. For oneworld, adding Mexicana will expand the alliance's network in Mexico and Central America, and enable it to build further on its positions as the leading airline grouping serving Latin America and the leading Spanish-speaking alliance.

oneworld is already the only global alliance with any airline members based in South America - through LAN Airlines and its sisters LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru. American Airlines is the leading airline serving the region internationally, and Iberia is the leading carrier between Latin America and Europe.

Mexicana's addition to oneworld comes after a year which has seen the alliance complete its biggest yet expansion drive, with 11 airlines joining in 2007 - Japan Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian as full members and, as affiliates, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador, Dragonair and five other carriers in the Japan Airlines group.

Mexicana's invitation to join oneworld was sealed at a ceremony today attended by its Chief Executive Officer Manuel Borja with his counterparts from all ten of oneworld's established member airlines and oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch during a meeting of the group's Governing Board in key alliance hub Los Angeles.

Mexicana is the biggest non-US airline operating at Los Angeles, which is its biggest hub outside Mexico.

Mexicana with the Click Mexicana network will add 26 destinations to the oneworld map - 24 in Mexico plus Bakersfield (California, USA) and Edmonton (Canada).

With the alliance's existing members serving 11 points in Mexico, its addition will expand to 35 points the alliance's network in Mexico, which is the world's 11^th most populous country, the 12^th biggest economy and the seventh most popular tourist destination, attracting more than 20 million foreign visitors a year.

oneworld's existing members already serve almost 110 airports throughout Latin America. Mexicana's addition will extend that to more than 130.

Globally, its addition will expand the alliance's network to approaching 700 destinations in nearly 150 countries, with a combined fleet of 2,350 aircraft operating almost 9,500 flights a day, carrying 333 million passengers, with annual revenues of US$100 billion.

In the months ahead, Mexicana will adapt key internal process to conform with oneworld requirements, link its IT systems to those of its oneworld partners and carry out an extensive employee training and communications programmes, to ensure that their staff worldwide are ready to provide oneworld's customer services and benefits from day one.

Once all its pre-joining requirements are sufficiently progressed, an exact date in 2009 will be confirmed for it to join.

Fernando Conte, Chairman and Chief Executive of Iberia, Mexicana's oneworld sponsor, said: "oneworld is very selective about who we invited on board to join us as a new member. We only consider airlines with brands that match the quality of our established partners, who share our priorities of safety, customer service and profitability and who can expand our existing combined network, rather than simply replicating what we already offer. Mexicana more than ticked all these boxes.

"In the three years that Iberia and Mexicana have been working closely together as bilateral partners, we have come to know that in Mexicana we have colleagues with whom we can really do business - partners who can add real value to one another. All of us at Iberia are delighted to be developing our relationship further by acting as Mexicana's sponsors into oneworld."

oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch added: "oneworld is delighted to be welcoming another quality airline on board. As the leading carrier in Mexico and Central America, Mexicana will considerably strengthen oneworld's established position of leadership in Latin America, building on last year's record expansion for the alliance and make it easier for customers to reach more places more easily and for better value with some of the world's best airlines."

Mexicana Chief Executive Officer Manuel Borja said: "Mexicana is now moving into the next phase of our development strategy. Joining the world's leading quality airline alliance will enable Mexicana to build on our excellent relationships with our established partners American Airlines and Iberia.

"As a member of oneworld, we will be able to offer our customers more choice and convenience, a much more extensive global network, more opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer rewards, more lounges, more customer service support and better value - services and benefits beyond the reach of any individual airline or bilateral partnership. For Mexicana and our employees, this will strengthen our position in an increasingly competitive marketplace."

Besides Mexicana Chief Executive Officer Manuel Borja, Iberia Chairman and Chief Executive Fernando Conte and oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch, scheduled to attend today's ceremony were:

• Qantas Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon (current chairman of oneworld's Governing Board)
• American Airlines Chairman and Chief Executive Gerard Arpey
• British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh
• Cathay Pacific Airways Chief Executive Tony Tyler
• Finnair Chief Executive Jukka Hienonen
• Japan Airlines Group Chief Executive Haruka Nishimatsu
• LAN Group Chief Executive Enrique Cueto
• Malév Chief Executive Peter Leonov
• Royal Jordanian Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman Samer Majali.

About Mexicana

 

Mexicana is the leading carrier in Mexico and Central America.

With Click Mexicana, it serves 63 destinations in 11 countries. Mexicana itself flies to 46 destinations in 11 countries, including 18 destinations in Mexico. Click Mexicana's network encompasses 22 destinations in Mexico, plus Havana (Cuba). The two airlines both serve six destinations in Mexico, giving them a joint domestic network covering 34 airports.

Mexicana operates a fleet of 62 aircraft - 30 Airbus A320s, 20 A319s and ten A318s, and two Boeing 767s - making 300 departures a day. Mexicana offers two classes - Executive and Economy - with in-flight entertainment screens throughout the fleet and complimentary in-flight meals and drinks in both cabins. It has the two-letter airline code MX.

Click Mexicana operates 18 Fokker 100s, making 115 departures a day. Its single cabin offers a "coach plus" style of service, with leather-covered seats at a 35 ins (89 cm) pitch. It offers complimentary in-flight drinks and snacks. Click Mexicana has its own flight code (QA) but all its flights also carry Mexicana's MX code under a code-sharing agreement.

Mexicana boarded 9 million passengers in 2007, with Click Mexicana carrying another 2.2 million. Between them, they employ 6,725 staff.

Mexico City - the world's second most populous metropolis - is the airlines' main hub, with Cancun and Guadalajara secondary hubs.

Mexicana has signed a contract to move its main IT platforms to Amadeus Altea - alongside oneworld partners British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Qantas, with Cathay Pacific also committed to transfer to this provider soon.

Among its most important bilateral alliance relationships are those with oneworld's American Airlines and Iberia, including code-sharing, frequent flyer links and through check-in. It also has established bilateral relationships with four of the alliance's other existing partners - Cathay Pacific (frequent flyer), Japan Airlines (frequent flyer, code-sharing and through check-in), LAN (frequent flyer and through check-in) and Qantas (code-sharing, frequent flyer and through check-in).

Among its most recent awards, it was named World Travel Awards' Best Airline Mexico and Central America for the tenth year running, Best Business Class Latin America for the third year running and Best Internet Site in Latin America (all in 2007), and Best Airline in Mexico for two years running by Global Traveler magazine.

 

 

Mexicana is one of the world's most experience airlines, opening service in July 1921.

It was privatised in December 2005, and is now owned by a consortium of Mexican private investors.

About oneworld

oneworld enables its member airlines to offer their customers more services and benefits than any carrier 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 access to some 500 airport lounges worldwide.

It offers more alliance fare and sales products than any of its competitors, earning some US$675 million for its member airlines in 2006, with all passengers transferring between oneworld members generating revenues totalling around US$2 billion.

oneworld has won more top industry awards as an alliance than any of its competitors. Most recently, it was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fifth year running in the latest World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by80,000 travel agency professionalsfrom more than 200 countries.

It is also the global alliance whose members have the best collective track record of profitability.

Pictures and logos

Pictures and logos of oneworld and its member carriers can be downloaded from oneworld.com/gallery

Pictures and logos of Mexicana can be downloaded from the news section at oneworld.com/gallery