SriLanka Airlines to join oneworld from May 01

Mar 07, 2014 (LBO) - State-run SriLankan Airlines said it is on track to join OneWorld, a global alliance of carriers on May 01, following the successful completion of a review by its sponsor, Cathay Pacific Airways. As part of oneworld, SriLankan will all of its customers seamless connections across a global network serving almost a thousand destinations in more than 150 countries, the airline said.

From that 400,000 members of SriLankan's FlySmiles loyalty program will have access to other airlines in the grouping, the airline said.

These include Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas in Asia; airberlin, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Russia’s S7 Airlines in Europe and Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian, from the Middle East.

American Airlines and, its merger partner US Airways, from North America: LAN TAM from South America as well as more than 30 affiliated airlines.

"With the world airline industry increasingly focused on alliances, joining oneworld will be a significant development for SriLankan Airlines," SriLankan Airlines Chairman NishanthaWickremasinghe said

"Joining the alliance will help put SriLankan more firmly on the global aviation map and vastly