Flight Joint Venturing
An increasing number of global airlines are forming joint ventures these days. This is because customer needs can be catered to and more unique services can be provided with greater ease by means of joint ventures than collaboration in the form of an alliance. Still, South Korean airlines are lagging behind the trend.
At present, global airlines are running more than 19 joint ventures worldwide, sharing their flight routes, profits, and costs and diversifying their schedules. Joint ventures are advantageous in terms of transfer time management and consumer services and benefits as well. As a result, they can attract more customers than before and their competitiveness can be enhanced.
This trend started in the late 2000s. For example, Air Canada, Lufthansa and United Airlines formed one in 2009. Since then, these companies have successfully enhanced their competitiveness in flight routes between the Americas and Europe. JAL and American Airlines have worked with each other in Pacific air routes since 2011, too. Air China and Lufthansa launched a joint venture between China and Europe this year and Air China is planning to do so with Air Canada, too.
Korean Air, in the meantime, is rather belatedly working on a joint venture with Delta Air Lines.