SkyTeam Will Seek New Members in India, China, South America
By Irene Shen
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) — The SkyTeam alliance, a network of
carriers including Air France-KLM and China Southern Airlines Co.,
plans to add more members in China, India and South America.
SkyTeam may add as many as four full members in the coming
three years, Leo Van Wijk, chairman of the alliance’s governing
board, said in an interview in Beijing today.
The network may add a second partner in China, the world’s
second-largest aviation market, after China Southern joined
SkyTeam as a full member today. Outbound flights from the country
have almost tripled in the last five years and may rise threefold
to 100 million by 2015, according to the World Tourism
Organization.
China’s aviation market will be “big enough” to have more
than one member, and the alliance has contacted Chinese carriers
including Hainan Airlines Co., Van Wijk said.
SkyTeam is also looking for members in Brazil and India, he
said.
The addition of China Southern, the nation’s largest carrier
by fleet, expanded the alliance’s daily flights to 16,400 and
destinations to 841 cities. The 11 full members fly 428 million
passengers annually.
–Editor: Langeland (akm)















