The award is the culmination of a record year for the grouping, with 11 carriers joining, expanding its network to around a hundred more destinations, and with more co-location at key airports to smooth customers’ journeys and more revenues than ever before generated for its member airlines.

The World Travel Awards, presented last night at a gala ceremony in the Caribbean’s Turks and Caicos, are based on votes cast by some 170,000 travel professionals and agents worldwide.

oneworld has retained the award for leading airline alliance every year since this category was introduced in 2003.

In the top worldwide categories, besides oneworld take the leading alliance title, member airline British Airways was named the world’s leading airline overall for the third year running, Cathay Pacific was named as being the world’s leading first class airline, American Airlines was honored for the world’s leading economy class.

Cathay Pacific had already been named by the awards as Asia’s leading airline, American as North America’s leading airline, LAN as South America’s leading airline and Qantas as Australasia’s leading airline.

oneworld Vice-President Corporate Communications Michael Blunt said: “oneworld is delighted to have received this tremendous vote of confidence once again from some of the most knowledgeable people in the travel industry worldwide. It reflects the quality of our airline members and our commitment to deliver alliance customer service better than any one else. It’s a wonderful way to end what has been a record breaking year for the alliance.”

oneworld last month completed its biggest expansion since its launch eight years ago, with the addition of China’s Dragonair, following the recruitment earlier this year of Japan Airlines and five of its affiliates, plus Malév Hungarian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador. Together, they expanded the alliance’s network to some 700 destinations in almost 150 countries.

Also last month, the grouping opened its first lounge worldwide developed as an alliance project, at Los Angeles, following the consolidation earlier this year of its airlines’ operations at new oneworld hub Tokyo Narita.

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates. China’s Dragonair joined as an affiliate on 1 November.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas collaborated to design and develop the facility. It includes separate lounges for First and Business Class passengers flying with any of these carriers.

The lounges will also be available to premium passengers flying with the alliance’s other two carriers operating from the terminal - Japan Airlines and LAN - and oneworld Emerald or Sapphire tier frequent flyer cardholders from any oneworld member airline when flying on any of the alliance’s carriers.

The other oneworld airline serving Los Angeles, American Airlines, operates from Terminal 4, adjacent to the Tom Bradley building, where it also offers lounge facilities.

Although many lounges have been established around the world by individual pairings of the alliance’s airlines, this is the first time a joint lounge has been developed from scratch on a oneworld basis.

The new oneworld lounges have been created to complement, rather than reflect, the carriers’ own individual designs, employing a spacious “outside in” concept to evoke California’s sea and sand culture. Their fresh new, modern and contemporary design aims to mirror and enhance the premium brand positioning of each airline.

Signature design features include a bank of plasma screens in the reception area and a relaxing bar. The facility also includes nine showers, internet café-style work stations equipped with PCs and buffet areas. Customers will be offered complimentary refreshments, wi-fi access, newspapers and magazines. First Class passengers will be provided with personalised service.

Located on Tom Bradley International’s Level 5, the 1,360 square-metre facility has space for 90 First Class and 210 Business Class passengers. It will be open from 9 am to 2 am.

oneworld Vice-President Customer Experience and Airports Ken Gilbert said: “oneworld’s usual approach is to deliver our alliance services and benefits, including lounges, through our individual member airlines, but with the space available at Los Angeles, combined with the redevelopment of Tom Bradley International Terminal, the best option all round was for our member airlines to develop a joint lounge. It has enabled them all to offer their most important customers a facility that is much bigger and better equipped than any of the airlines could provide individually.”

* Pictures of the new lounges can be downloaded from the oneworld image gallery

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas and, since 1 April, Japan Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates. Dragonair will join as an affiliate tomorrow (1 November).

Their addition has expanded oneworld substantially to:

* Almost 700 airports in some 150 countries.
* Nearly 500 airport lounges for premium customers.
* More than 9,000 daily departures by a combined fleet of almost 2,500 aircraft.
* More than 320 million passengers.
* 260,000 employees.
* More than US$90 billion annual revenues, up by a third.

From Los Angeles’ Tom Bradley International Terminal the four on-line oneworld carriers offer up to 15 departures a day:

* British Airways flies to London Heathrow three times daily.
* Cathay Pacific serves Hong Kong three times daily.
* Japan Airlines flies to Tokyo Narita daily.
* LAN flies to Santiago daily and LAN Peru to Lima daily.
* Qantas serves Melbourne twice daily, Brisbane five times a week and Auckland daily. It also flies to Sydney 16 times a week from the adjacent Terminal 4, including one a day originating from New York JFK.

From its own Terminal 4 next door to the Tom Bradley terminal, American Airlines flies to Tokyo Narita, London Heathrow, various points in Mexico and extensively across the USA.

GB Airways will withdraw from oneworld on 30 March 2008, following its purchase by easyJet.

British Airways itself will start flying on a number of the routes flown by GB Airways - to Faro and Malaga from both London Heathrow and Gatwick, and to Gibraltar, Ibiza, Palma and Tunis from London Gatwick alone.

GB Airways serves 31 destinations in Southern Europe and Africa. All but 13 of them will remain on the oneworld network, served by British Airways itself or other members of the alliance. Points leaving the oneworld map are Ajaccio, Bastia, Corfu, Dalaman, Fez, Funchal, Heraklion, Hurghada, Innsbruck, Malta, Mykonos, Paphos and Rhodes.

Loganair will withdraw from oneworld on 25 October 2008, with the resulting loss of oneworld service to 12 destinations, mainly in the Scottish highlands and islands - Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Derry, Kirkwall, Inverness, Islay, Isle of Man, Stornaway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick. British Airways will continue to code-share on Loganair thereafter.

The new county is Nepal, with Dragonair - which joins oneworld on 1 November - launching services between its Hong Kong home and Nepal’s capital Kathmandu from 2 December with an initial four Airbus A320s a week.

Also in Asia, Japan Airlines is putting a second Shanghai airport on the oneworld map, with the inauguration of daily flights to Hongqiao from the airline’s Tokyo Haneda hub from 29 September, by Boeing 767s initially and then Boeing 747-400s from late October. It will maintain its existing four daily round trips between Shanghai Pudong and Tokyo Narita. The new route will provide greater customer convenience, with both airports closer to their city centers than the established gateways.

In Europe, both British Airways and Iberia are launching flights to Genoa, making it the 15th city in Italy served by oneworld carriers. Iberia will inaugurate services first, through its franchisee Iberia Regional Air Nostrum, with daily CRJ200 flights to and from its Madrid hub from 28 October. British Airways will follow from 4 April, with daily services to and from London Gatwick.

In the USA, affiliate member American Eagle, the regional sister of American Airlines, is bringing New Mexico’s Santa Fe on-line to oneworld, with non-stops to and from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub from 13 December and to and from Los Angeles the next day, using Embraer 140 regional jets on both routes.

Royal Jordanian to link its Amman home with oneworld hub Hong Kong: Royal Jordanian is opening services between its Amman home and the Hong Kong hub of oneworld partner Cathay Pacific from 22 January with an initial three flights a week as an extension of its existing route to Bangkok.

American Airlines and affiliates to open a dozen new routes: American Airlines and its regional affiliates are opening more than a dozen new routes in the coming months, with most of the expansion from New York.

The mainline airline itself will launch two new transatlantic routes from JFK from 1 May - to Iberia hub Barcelona and to Milan Malpensa, using two-class Boeing 767-300s on both routes.

American launches its new JFK-London Stansted route on 28 October and will now double frequencies to two a day from 7 April.

It has also recently launched services between JFK and Las Vegas and between LaGuardia and Minneapolis-St Paul.

From its Chicago O’Hare hub, American will inaugurate daily non-stops to Buenos Aires from 13 December, using two-class Boeing 767-300s. It already serves the Argentinian city from Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and New York JFK.

Also in Latin America, the airline will fly from its Dallas/Fort Worth home to Panama City four days a week and Providenciales (Turks and Caicos Islands) weekly from 13 December, using two-class Boeing 737-800s. On the same date, it will launch non-stops between Phoenix and Miami, also with 737-800s.

From New York JFK, American Eagle will fly daily from 13 December to Pittsburgh, which it already serves from LaGuardia, and fly to Montreal from LaGuardia three times daily, in addition to its existing thrice dailies from JFK. Also from LaGuardia, it will operate twice-dailies to Memphis.

Elsewhere, it will inaugurate dailies between Chicago O’Hare and Gulfport-Biloxi, also from 13 December, while AmericanConnection will fly non-stops between St Louis and Springfield, Illinois, from 4 November.

Cathay to increase flights between oneworld hubs Hong Kong and Sydney: Cathay Pacific is upgrading services between its Hong Kong home and the Sydney hub of oneworld partner Qantas by adding four additional frequencies a week from 1 February, giving a total of 25 roundtrips a week between the two cities and 58 a week between Hong Kong and Australia. The new flights will be by three-class Airbus A330-300s.

Iberia opens Prague and Warsaw routes and ups South American services: Iberia will add Prague and Warsaw to its network next month, with Airbus A320s to both cities from Madrid. It will serve the Polish capital four times a week from 28 October and the Czech capital five times a week from the next day. Prague and Warsaw are already on the oneworld network through services by the alliance’s other carriers. To South America, it will increase frequencies to Buenos Aires by another three flights a week from December, giving three round trips on most days of the week, and raise Bogota schedules by three from January, taking its weekly schedule to ten.

Cathay boosts Japan schedules: Cathay Pacific is to add a sixth daily service between its Hong Kong hub and Japan Airlines’ Tokyo Narita international base from late October, replacing its Dragonair affiliate on the route. Dragonair will instead open services to Fukuoka and Sendai. Cathay Pacific itself is also adding a second daily non-stop between Hong Kong and San Francisco, from 18 October.

Japan Airlines to launch First Class on domestic routes from 1 December: First Class will make its debut on Japan Airlines’ domestic flights on 1 December, on seven round trips a day between its Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami hubs, expanding as soon as possible to other departures between the two airports. It will be extended during 2008 to Tokyo Haneda routes to and from Fukuoka and Sapporo.

The new cabin will offer seats upholstered in the finest leather, reclining to a maximum angle of 132 degrees with 130 cm of leg room and a width of 53 cm. They will be laid out on its Boeing 777-200s in a 2-2-2 configuration, with a wood-finished center partition between each pair of seats to provide maximum privacy. In-flight meals will be created by some of Japan’s leading restaurants. On the ground, passengers will be able to check in at dedicated First Class counters and use lounges before being offered priority boarding.

Qantas adds Premium Economy as fourth cabin on international longhaul: Qantas is to add a fourth cabin on its international longhaul flights, with Premium Economy to be rolled out progressively from February on its Boeing 747-400s serving London, Hong Kong and Johannesburg, and on its new Airbus A380s to be delivered from August next year. On both aircraft types, it will feature 32 seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration on the 747s and 2-3-2 on A380s.

The new cabin has been designed to appeal to Economy travelers seeking more space, comfort and an enhanced level of service. Qantas claims the seats will offer more recline and leg room than any other carrier offers in Premium Economy - 9 ins seat recline and up to 42 ins seat pitch. The cabin will include a self-service bar offering a selection of refreshments throughout the flight, in addition to the regular choice of meals designed by celebrity chef Neil Perry’s Rockpool Group, premium wines, superior tableware and soft furnishings. On the ground, there will be dedicated Premium Economy check-in desks.

It will be the third oneworld airline to offer a Premium Economy cabin, after British Airways and Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines to move Moscow operations to Domodedovo: Japan Airlines is to move its Moscow operations from Sheremetyevo to Domodedovo International from 15 December in a move that the airline says will “increase the comfort and convenience of passengers”. At Domodedovo, it will join British Airways, Iberia and Royal Jordanian, leaving Finnair and Malév Hungarian Airlines at Sheremetyevo. JAL serves Moscow twice weekly, with one additional flight a week normally during the summer peak.

American opens New York JFK’s biggest and newest terminal: American Airlines’ US$1.3 billion new terminal at New York JFK - the biggest and newest at the airport - has been fully opened.

At more than 1.5 million sq ft, the new facility includes 84 ticketing positions, 44 self-service check-in kiosks with both domestic and international check-in capabilities, security checkpoints capable of handling 1,800 travelers an hour, a new US Customs and Immigration facility that can handle 1,600 travelers an hour, as well as a state-of-the-art, in-line security baggage system to expedite passenger processing times.

Other improvements include two new Admirals Club Lounges and a new Flagship Lounge for international First Class passengers, representing a combined US$12 million investment. Premium class travelers also benefit from new premium class check-in service, new premium class security lanes and new International curb-side check-in service - ensuring that curb-through-security processing takes less than 30 minutes.

The terminal - which is also used by oneworld partners Finnair and Malév Hungarian Airlines - can handle 12.8 million passengers a year. With its American Eagle regional affiliate, the group offers 91 daily departures from JFK.

JAL opens revamped Narita lounges: Japan Airlines has opened two completely revamped lounges at Tokyo Narita Terminal 2. Its new First Class and JAL Sakura facilities now boast a more spacious and comfortable atmosphere, with a combined seating capacity for almost 700 people. Facilities include the services of a resident professional masseuse, plus a self-service dining area, fully-stocked bars and shower rooms.

Qantas to give its Perth domestic terminal A$50 million upgrade: Qantas is to invest A$50 million in improving its domestic terminal at Perth, expanding its check-in and departure areas, Qantas Club lounge and baggage reclaim facilities and providing a new security screening facilities.

BA named Best Airline by Business Traveler: British Airways has added another “airline of the year” title to its name, retaining its Best Airline award from Business Traveler magazine. It already held “airline of the year” awards from OAG, Global Traveler and World Travel Awards. In the Business Traveler awards, it was also voted Best Shorthaul Carrier, Best Frequent Flyer Program and Best Economy Class. Among the other oneworld winners,American Airlines was named Best North American Airline.

Qantas launches carbon emissions offset program: Qantas has launched a program enabling passengers to offset the carbon emissions caused by their flights. Passengers can now elect to offset their share of emissions from their Qantas flights by making a small contribution through qantas.com, using an on-line calculator.

The airline itself will pay to offset the emissions for all its staff travelling for business purposes as well as those generated by its ground transport vehicles.

All contributions will go towards abatement programs approved by Australia-based Greenhouse Friendly. These may include energy efficiency measures, generation of renewable energy and tree planting projects - all activities to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or to avoid their release in the first place.

The group has set itself a target of cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by more than two million tonnes by June 2011 through a range of environmental initiatives, with its focus on the most modern and efficient aircraft playing a key role. In the past year, it had reduced emissions by 130,000 tonnes - equivalent to removing 30,000 cars from the roads.

Three new fares are being made available to customers from Italy from today:

* businessflyer® , offering small and medium-sized enterprises substantial discounts.
* Combinable fares, providing greater flexibility and value.
* Special round-the-world tickets.

businessflyer

Italy is from today the sixth country worldwide where the alliance now offers its businessflyer programme for small and medium-sized enterprises, offering substantial discounts in return for a more regular relationship.

businessflyer enables smaller businesses to benefit from the sort of discounts on air fares that are normally only available to bigger corporate customers with the purchasing power to negotiate special rates.

Customers simply need to register at the alliance’s new dedicated Italian website oneworld.com/Italia (or oneworld.com/italy) and can then use these specially discounted tickets to fly from some 20 airports across Italy to more than 220 cities in Europe, North America, South American, Asia and Australasia - all the most popular destinations for Italian businesses - using any of the alliance’s carriers. businessflyer tickets are flexible and tailored for business.

Once they have completed their on-line registration, customers gain access to an exclusive businessflyer website, where they can register the details of their preferred travel agent through which they wish to make bookings, and where they can learn more about the range of businessflyer destinations and special fares offered by each oneworld member.

Customers can choose to travel in Business or Economy Class, or in First Class in some cases, enabling companies to benefit whatever the requirements of their travel policy.

The tickets provide maximum flexibility, so itineraries or dates can be changed until just before departure. businessflyer fares attract frequent flyer rewards and tier status points, and can be bought through a customer’s preferred travel agent.

businessflyer was originally launched in Germany in 2003 and then extended to France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, with some 6,000 businesses registered to participate in these five countries.

oneworld is supporting the launch of businessflyer in Italy with a massive direct mail campaign, posting details to thousands of small to medium businesses, organisations and to the travel trade.

Combinable fares

In another key move by the alliance, customers flying from Italy can now mix and match any published fares of any of the alliance’s member airlines for trips involving flights by any combination of the carriers.

oneworld is the only alliance to offer this degree of ticketing flexibility between all member airlines - and Italy is one of only three countries worldwide where the alliance is trialling this new level of co-operation.

It means passengers from Italy can fly in one direction on one oneworld airline and return on another alliance member - now using both airlines’ most attractive published prices all the way.

oneworld Vice-President Commercial Nicolas Ferri, in Milan today for the launch of this initiative, said: “This is another alliance first for oneworld. It is a classic example of oneworld member airlines working more closely together to provide more choice, value and flexibility for their customers. In most cases, it could mean some substantial savings too - but the key for the consumer is greater flexibility, with more flights to choose from.”

Special round-the-world-fares

oneworld already offers a wider choice of great value and flexible alliance fare and sales products than any other airline grouping - for touring one continent or traveling all around the world, whether you are a captain of industry or a student backpacker.

Also today, oneworld launches in Italy special versions of its round-the-world fares. These special oneworld Round-the-World Promo fares offer a selection of the alliance’s most popular Economy Class round-the-world itineraries, with discounts of up to 15 per cent off regular prices.

For example, traveling from Rome to Hong Kong via Helsinki with Finnair, then on to San Francisco on Cathay Pacific and then back to Rome via New York on American Airlines would cost EUR1,899 - a EUR250 saving on the regular fare of EUR2,149. See notes below

oneworld’s focus on Italy

oneworld from today designates Italy for the first time as one of only six “key target markets” worldwide, as part of the alliance’s biggest drive yet to win more share of the Italian air travel market.

This means the alliance and its member airlines will work more closely together in Italy, offering offer individual and corporate customers a greater range of services and benefits and investing more resources to support their collective efforts throughout the country.

Other elements of oneworld’s new drive to gain market share from Italy include a sweepstake offering three winners prizes of a million air miles each – enough free travel for 80 Economy Class round-trips to Spain, 12 Business Class return flights to Chicago or five Business Class trips to Australia and back. See notes below and separate news release.

Eight of oneworld’s member airlines serve Italy with their own flights - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian. Together, these airlines serve 14 mainland and island Italian airports - Rome Fuimicino, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Florence Pisa, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Turin, Venice and Verona. Genoa will be added as the alliance’s 15th Italian gateway next month.

From Italy, these airlines offer a total of more than a thousand flights a week with direct services to 15 destinations in Europe, the Americas and Asia and the smoothest of connections from there to the near 700 destinations in almost 150 countries served by the alliance worldwide. Last year, they provided approaching ten million seats on flights to or from Italy.

With the alliance’s two other member LAN Airlines and Qantas and the grouping’s 20 affiliates, including from 1 November China’s Dragonair, oneworld serves some 700 destinations in almost 150 countries, carrying more than 320 million passengers a year worldwide on around 9,500 daily departures.

With oneworld the only alliance with any member airline based in the Americas south of Mexico, in the Middle East or in Australia, it offers the world’s only truly global network.

oneworld Vice-President Commercial Nicolas Ferri said: “Collectively, oneworld’s member airlines offer travellers from Italy the world - and these new fares make it even easier and better value to reach anywhere around the globe from this country.”