In another step towards a possible oneworld alliance membership, China Southern and Finnair have applied to codeshare together from 22 April 2019.
The Chinese carrier is leaving the SkyTeam alliance, and there is speculation they may join oneworld in the future. What does this codeshare entail?
China Southern and Finnair Codeshare
A codeshare agreement is where one airline sells seats on another airlines flights. This provides extra network reach without having to purchase extra aircraft or go to the expense of hiring crew.
China Southern is planning to codeshare on 15 of Finnair’s European routes out of Helsinki. Filling a gap on their route map, it will open up cities such as Copenhagen and Stockholm on their network.
Eight Chinese cities will carry Finnair’s code, including places such as Chongqing and Nanjing. In addition, there will be eight cities added in Australia and New Zealand.
A long term strategic partnership is being mooted between the two airlines. It adds to China Southern’s oneworld connections, as they already have relationships with American Airlines, Qantas, Japan Airlines and British Airways.
Overall Thoughts
People are predicting that China Southern would be a good fit for the oneworld alliance. If approved, the new relationship with Finnair is another step in that direction.
It is entirely possible that the Guangzhou based airline will enter into partnerships like this and not join an alliance. However, it would make little sense for such a large carrier to not be in an alliance like their local competitors.
What do you think of this codeshare agreement? Is it another step towards alliance membership or just an agreement between two carriers that should not be read into? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
To never miss a post, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here so check them out!
Featured image by byeangel from Tsingato, China via Wikimedia Commons.
Finnair image by Anna-Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia via Wikimedia Commons.
It really hinges on CX. If CX approves their membership then its a no-brainer. If CX does not, then individual agreements is a good way around that. Realistically though, CX and SZ probably have a lot less overlap than say Thai and Singapore given CX’s huge domestic network in China, something CX gets around by being in bed with Air China.
The alliance game has matured to such that everyone’s sleeping around with everyone else like an airborne soap opera, but alliance membership still has its benefits. Much like an open marriage at tax time.
Yeah I agree, if it’s approved by CX it would be a great addition to oneworld. Agreed, I like how oneworld let their carriers have agreements outside the alliance. It allows for a nice degree of flexibility and is good from a business perspective. We’ll see what happens anyway! Cheers!
But is CZ a “good fit” for OW. Many / most of our readers would disagree assuming CX remains in OW. Of course CX might well quite for Star when considering the involvement of CA and its recent JV with LH.
No alliance has two members with their main hubs so close to each other.
HKG to CAN is probably less than 100 miles and CZ’s discounting would disrupt CX’s business model (unless it were to quit OW).
Yes, I looked that up myself regarding the distance when I first heard of it. If I had the choice, I would certainly prefer CX in the alliance. As China Southern have said, they’re more interested in doing joint ventures, but whether things stay like that remains to be seen. It’s one to watch anyway! Cheers.
And today comes news that OW member QR is taking a small stake in CZ.
Yes, I noticed that… another sign? Who can say!