Will Aer Lingus rejoin the oneworld alliance?
Bloomberg is reporting that Aer Lingus is in discussions with British Airways about rejoining the oneworld alliance. The airline left oneworld back in 2007 when it tried to reposition itself into a low cost carrier in order to better compete with Ryanair and the switch marks a change in strategy and would seem to indicate that the airline is going to refocus their efforts and return to being a full-service airline.
Aer Lingus is also in discussion with Star and Skyteam alliances. Chrisoph Mueller, who has been in place as the CEO for about a year, had this comment:
“It’s not like selecting a country club according to which one has the most golf courses…We have to discuss what they can do for us and what can we do for them. We bring the entire Irish market to the table so I think everybody is interested in securing that for their alliance portfolio.”
Stephen Rothwell, the Bloomberg writer reporting this story, even included odds from an Irish bookmaker:
Oneworld is the 11-10 favorite to lure Aer Lingus, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power Plc said today. Star is rated a close second at 5-4, with Skyteam a longer-odds bet at 4-1.
Read all about it here.