SriLankan Airlines said it has become the first carrier from the Indian subcontinent to join oneworld.

With this move, SriLankan will be offering the full range of services and benefits of the world’s fastest growing and highest rated global airline alliance.

The oneworld alliance presently comprises 15 members including SriLankan. They are American Airlines, airberlin, British Airways, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, S7, LAN, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, TAM and RJ.

Cathay Pacific Airways has served as SriLankan’s sponsor into oneworld.

SriLankan’s official membership in oneworld was celebrated on April 30 at a ceremony attended by key ministers from Sri Lanka’s government at South Asia’s newest international airport, Hambantota’s Mattala Rajapaksa International.

The airline’s addition to oneworld will bring two new destinations on to the alliance network, Hambantota itself plus India’s Tiruchirapalli, along with its Colombo base as a new oneworld hub.

With an extensive schedule serving southern India, and as the leading international airline serving the Maldives, SriLankan also significantly strengthens oneworld’s presence throughout South Asia, a region witnessing one of the fastest growing air travel demands.

With SriLankan, oneworld serves almost 1,000 airports in 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures. The oneworld carriers generate $140 billion annual revenues.

From May 1, frequent flyers in SriLankan’s loyalty scheme can receive oneworld benefits when traveling on any oneworld member airline. Also, members of the oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programs can earn and redeem awards and tier-status points and receive all other oneworld benefits when flying SriLankan Airlines.

To celebrate SriLankan’s addition to oneworld, members of most member airlines’ loyalty programs, including RJ’s Royal Plus, will receive double the normal mileage awards when flying on SriLankan between May 15 and June 30.

Members of SriLankan’s FlySmiLes will receive double their usual FlySmiLes when flying on most oneworld partners during the same period.

SriLankan Airlines operates a fleet of 21 aircraft — including eight Airbus A320s/A321s, seven A330-200s and six A340-300s — and has orders for 10 new aircraft, including four A350-900s.

Using the airline code UL, it carried 4.7 million passengers last year between its Colombo base and 32 destinations in 20 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including oneworld hubs Doha, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow Domodedovo and Tokyo Narita, along with Bangkok and Singapore.

The induction of SriLankan Airlines comes one month after TAM and US Airways (which merged with American Airlines) joined the alliance last March, adding 100 destinations to the oneworld route network in the Americas.-TradeArabia News Service