As oneworld®, the top global airline alliance, celebrates its 25th anniversary, oneworld’s Chairman, member airline CEOs, and the alliance’s new CEO spoke at a press event this morning during the IATA AGM in Dubai about oneworld’s extraordinary success and rising customer relevance.

Recently, oneworld became a strong global alliance of thirteen top airlines, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, and Sri Lankan Airlines. Founded in 1999 by American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, oneworld will triple in size by 2025, growing from four to fifteen members in the next year, with Oman Air and Fiji Airways joining as full members.

Since its founding, oneworld has been a leader in the aviation sector, continually increasing the bar for customer service and connectivity. Oneworld airlines conduct approximately 4.5 million flights yearly, transporting more than 500 million passengers, including 212 million loyalty program members. With a combined fleet of over 3,400 aircraft and 13,000 daily flights, oneworld member airlines have connected customers, countries, and industries all over the world. Since its founding, oneworld member airlines have transported more than nine billion people, demonstrating the alliance’s prominence as the world’s leading airline association.

Robert Isom, oneworld Chairman and American Airlines CEO, reminisced on the alliance’s history: “I’m proud to mark the creation of the oneworld alliance. Since its inception 25 years ago, the alliance has raised the bar in customer service and forged a common bond between the world’s leading airlines. We have never wavered in our commitment to enhance the customer experience every day, on every flight.”

With oneworld celebrating its 25th anniversary, new alliance CEO Nat Pieper’s primary focus is on improving all aspects of the guest travel experience, including an ambitious premium lounge strategy, an alliance-wide oneworld upgrade program, and deeper, more personalised digital capabilities.

Oneworld made history earlier this year when it opened its first branded premium lounges at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and Incheon International in Seoul, South Korea.

Over 45,000 visitors have already tried the new oneworld premium offering, which was introduced in collaboration with Swissport, a worldwide airline ground services company, and the team behind its ASPIRE Airport Lounges. The association will continue to investigate new opportunities to grow its current network of almost 700 lounges.

In another significant development, oneworld launched its much-anticipated oneworld upgrade programme in March of this year, providing a new, useful opportunity for the alliance’s frequent fliers to spend their miles and points to upgrade among oneworld member airlines.

The initial phase, sponsored by American Airlines and Qantas, allowed AAdvantage® members to utilize their miles to upgrade on Qantas-operated flights. The reciprocal offer for Qantas Frequent Flyers to utilize their Qantas Points for upgrades on American Airlines-operated flights is already in development and will be available in the coming months.

More oneworld member airlines will join the oneworld upgrade program later this year, making it a significant and much anticipated development for millions of oneworld loyal consumers.

Oneworld will also continue to lead its digital transformation to improve the tailored guest experience by giving customers with self-service tools to manage their journey. Oneworld is committed to facilitating the development of new technological links amongst member airlines in order to improve experiences across the whole alliance network.

As oneworld approaches its next 25 years, it continues committed to improving every area of the customer experience, reinforcing its position as the world’s largest airline alliance. The future of air travel has arrived, and it is brighter than ever with oneworld.