Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Airline alliances? Emirates forges its own flight path

Bilateral agreements can be easier to manage and more tightly targeted

Captain, Officer, Person Emirates
Emirates opts for bilateral deals rather than joining one of the big alliances

In the last few months Dubai national carrier Emirates has announced a major strategic partnership with United Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance.

And now FlyDubai has revealed a series of codeshares with Air Canada, another Star Alliance member.

Ask most airline CEOs within the major alliance programmes – Star Alliance, Skyteam and Oneworld – which airline they would like to see within their line-up and Emirates would probably be top of the list.  

Equally, ask Emirates what benefits joining an alliance would add to its business and it would probably say “not a lot”. 

With a well-defined strategy, Emirates realises that its greatest revenue opportunity lies by working outside an alliance structure with partners from all three groups as and when suits.

If that means Qantas (Oneworld) in Australia or United Airlines (Star Alliance) in North America then so be it. 

Why airlines join alliances

The three major alliances collectively operate around 43 percent of all capacity through their various members and networks. 

These alliances bring like-minded carriers together, creating apparently seamless product offerings and connectivity across networks and providing customers with greater choice. 

The three alliances are broadly similar in shape and size and all have cornerstone members in each of the major world markets. For instance, Star Alliance has Singapore Airlines in South East Asia, Lufthansa in Europe, United Airlines in the US and Air China. 

Global alliances, summer 2023

Global alliancesStar AllianceOneWorld AllianceSkyteam Alliance
Number of airline members261519
Number of countries served192175169
Number of destinations served1,2899981,058
Share of global capacity17%12%14%
Daily flights15,32411,15611,983
OAG Schedules Analyser

The primary airline alliances have been around for over 20 years and there’s been little movement across alliances or new members added in recent years. 

However, this may be about to change in light of airlines such as Emirates forging formal or informal arrangements around the alliance edges. 

The alliance advantage means that an airline can build market presence in a region or specific country alongside a series of partners that subsequently allow for a greater share of the market to be captured. 

Within the Middle East, airlines across all three major alliances operate with some local carriers. Taking the OneWorld alliance as an example, 11 members have some degree of capacity and presence in the region, but three – Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and British Airways – dominate with a 93 percent share.

Global alliances in the Middle East, summer 2023

Middle East market activityStar AllianceOneWorld AllianceSkyteam Alliance
Number of airlines operating171114
Percentage of all members65%73%73%
Largest three airlines– Turkish Airlines
– Egyptair
– Air India
– Qatar Airways
– Royal Jordanian
– British Airways
– Saudi Arabian Airline
– Middle East Airlines
– KLM
Percentage share of the three largest70%93%92%
Percentage share of all Middle East capacity, summer 202312%23%19%
OAG Schedules Analyser
The alliance conundrum

The fact that there has been little churn in airline alliances highlights their complexity.

Coordinating the product items, scheduling, frequent flyer earning and pricing between a multitude of airlines, all ultimately with their own agenda and strategies, is a thankless task. It can result in lots of additional costs being added to any airline operation. 

And this is why several airlines are now developing commercial relationships outside of alliance structures – even with competing alliance airlines.

Overlay the fact that each of the current alliances probably cover all of the major markets through their existing structures, then adding new members would seem a waste of time.

More straightforward bilateral agreements could be more effective, easier to manage and, of course, more tightly targeted. 

John Grant is partner at UK consultancy Midas Aviation

Latest articles

Visitors shop in the souq in Manama, Bahrain. The government wants to encourage more youth into work

Bahrain launches minimum wage fund to bolster youth

Lawmakers in Bahrain are to spend over BD200 million ($500 million) to lift the minimum wage of the kingdom’s citizens.  The government hopes it will encourage more youth into the working world and stimulate the country’s economy. The initiative, run by Bahrain’s Labour Fund, which is also known as Tamkeen, received unanimous approval from the […]

Angola uae

Angola project demonstrates GCC’s growing Africa interest

Dubai Investments has appointed a Chinese construction company as the main contractor on its flagship project in Angola as GCC investments in Africa rise. China Harbour Engineering Company will undertake the first phase of Dubai Investments Park Angola, covering 2,000 hectares of residential, commercial and industrial property in the West African country. The award of […]

A man waits for customers at his dates shop in Cairo. The Egyptian government says it will increase tax revenues by 30 percent 'without burdening citizens'

Egypt’s ambitious budget makes private sector a priority

Egypt’s budget for the financial year 2024-25 includes ambitious targets of 4.2 percent growth, a 50 percent increase in private sector investment and a primary surplus of 3.5 percent.  The budget was approved in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and will be sent to the House of Representatives by the end of the month.  It […]

Turkey's energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar

Turkey looks to Russia to build second nuclear power plant

Turkey hopes to expand its partnership with Russia’s state-owned Rosatom to develop its second nuclear power plant in Sinop on the southern coast of the Black Sea, a senior government official has said. The Russian company is working on the country’s first Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) in Mersin province on the Mediterranean coast. The project […]