The Oneworld alliance of eight airlines, including American Airlines and British Airways, earlier this month launched its first alliancewide product targeting meetings and conventions. The program, dubbed Eventflyer, features fares created specifically for large, multinational events, offers a single point of contact for planners and planner incentives.
Introduced Nov. 1, Eventflyer is available for any of the 575 destinations the alliance carriers serve but is restricted to events that have at least 500 attendees flying to a single destination and have the potential for at least three Oneworld airlines to be involved in attendee transportation. Events must have at least six months and no more than three years of lead time.
Those restrictions are less stringent than those of the meeting and conference program of Oneworld alliance rival Star Alliance, which is anchored by United Airlines, Lufthansa and 13 other carriers. Star's program, called Conventions Plus, was the first alliancewide meetings product when it was introduced in 2000 and refined in 2002
(Meetings Today, May 13, 2002). Conventions Plus requires no less than 1,000 international attendees from at least three countries and two continents.
The third major airline alliance, the Delta Air Lines and Air France-founded SkyTeam, does not feature a specific meetings and convention alliancewide product.
Oneworld managing partner John McCulloch said the move should help the alliance gain share of what it terms a key market.
"Conferences and conventions represent an important and growing market for air travel, with delegates last year spending an estimated $700 million on international flights to attend some 5,000 large-scale congresses staged by various organizations worldwide," McCulloch said. "With our excellent track record in developing alliance fares that provide tremendous value for consumers while opening up new revenue streams for our member airlines, we believe Oneworld's new Eventflyer will fast become the most popular airline product serving the market."
Airline alliances have grown in stature during the past decade, and a handlful of corporate travel managers have inked wide-ranging deals with them. Yet, the tendency of carriers to switch alliances and inconsistent sales strategies, as well as variable states of immunity from antitrust laws, have left many buyers less than convinced of their true value
(BTN, Sept. 22).Since Eventflyer is designed as a product for individual events, many of the concerns transient buyers have regarding alliances' capacity to serve their global needs would be less pertinent.
Meanwhile, Oneworld's carrier roster will grow by one in 2004, when Swiss International Air Lines will join AA, Aer Lingus, BA, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas.