The seven established members - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LAN and Qantas - classified almost two-thirds of the total revenue as incremental, or money they would not have earned had it not been for Oneworld.

The alliance's revenues are expected to be given a substantial boost this year with the addition in April of Japan Airlines, plus associates Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian and affiliates LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador - and Dragonair later in the year.

Oneworld's corporate sales were particularly strong, with revenues from corporate accounts increasing by almost two-thirds.

Businessflyer, the alliance's product for small and medium accounts in key target markets, generated more than twice as much revenue as in 2005.

More than 5,500 businesses are now signed up in France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and now also Belgium - almost 40 per cent more than a year ago, spurred in part by the alliance's first external advertising in five years.

Yields from Oneworld sales overall remained strong, with almost three-quarters of its alliance fares sold for travel in its member airlines' premium cabins.

Some 8 million passengers transferred between the established Oneworld member airlines' flights, one in every 30 customers they boarded throughout the year.

Revenues generated by this interlining activity within the alliance rose almost 5 per cent to some $2 billion, including benefits from alliance fares and sales products. That represents almost 3.5 per cent of the established member airlines' total passenger revenues.

Oneworld managing partner John McCulloch said yesterday that key factors behind this rise in revenues were the services that Oneworld and its member airlines provide, unparalleled international route network and its unmatched range of alliance fares and sales products.

While the alliance is maintaining its focus on supporting efforts to reduce costs, savings from joint procurement activities now total almost $300 million, with the bulk of the benefits coming from engineering and maintenance.

Based on the latest full-year results from all established members of all alliances, Oneworld's established members collectively achieved an operating margin of 5.7 per cent - against 3.4 per cent for Star and 3.1 per cent for SkyTeam. At the net level, the profit margin for Oneworld's members was 3.4 per cent, against 2.8 per cent for Star and a negative 8.3 per cent for SkyTeam.

Over the past three years, the combined net profit of Oneworld has been $5.4 billion, while SkyTeam members have lost $18.6 billion and Star has reported collective losses of $20.8 billion. Oneworld remains the only alliance without a member having to resort to bankruptcy protection.

Oneworld was voted the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fourth year running in the 2006 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by some 170,000 travel professionals.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation