Oneworld Airline Alliance’s New Partner Opens Opportunities in Africa

Frequent flyers on American, British, and a dozen other airlines have a new partner to look forward to. Last week, Morocco’s flag carrier Royal Air Maroc announced its intent to join the Oneworld alliance, a group of 13 airlines around the planet that shares benefits such as codeshare flights and frequent flyer perks.

This will be Oneworld’s first major partner with a base on the continent, and by connecting through Casablanca, the airline’s hub, alliance members will soon be able to book codeshare flights from their home countries into deep corners of Africa. Additionally, frequent flyers will be able to earn points on Royal Air Maroc-operated flights and redeem them for free travel through the region.

Oneworld’s expansion into Africa comes in parallel to other alliance growth currently working its way through both the United States and the Far East. According to Skift’s Brian Sumers, Alaska Airlines is considering joining the network on a low-level partner basis while China Southern, a current SkyTeam member, may be working its way out of that alliance. Perhaps soon, Oneworld will be able to compete with the Star Alliance and its 27 members on an international level.

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

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Skift Business of Loyalty Editor Grant Martin [gm@skift.com] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.