Wings Alliance

Wings Alliance was the working name of a proposed

frequent flyer program coordination, no formal association was ever announced. It was rendered superfluous in September 2004 when most of its participants joined the SkyTeam

alliance.

Northwest and KLM had begun cooperating in 1989, but the formation of the

Canadian Airlines International and Cathay Pacific announced the creation of a rival alliance, oneworld

.

Non-aligned airlines maneuvered to form their own partnerships.

labor unions

representing the airlines' pilots met to coordinate negotiations. KLM had merged its cargo operations with those of Alitalia, and with Northwest extended its partnership to Alitalia effective November 1, 1999. In December, Continental received regulatory approval to partner with Alitalia, bringing membership of the nascent alliance to four.

Other airlines which had expressed interest in joining included Malaysia Airlines, Air China, Air Europa and Garuda Indonesia.

Numerous disputes would prevent Wings from ever taking flight, however. As part of their partnership, Northwest had taken a stake in Continental, raising the hackles of

Malpensa International Airport serving Milan.^[1] KLM had contributed some $95 million to the construction of the replacement for overcrowded Linate Airport, but the Italian government used the project to shore up Alitalia at foreign carriers' expense, by barring them from flying into the much more convenient Linate. Alitalia left to join SkyTeam, while KLM dallied with a potential merger with British Airways, a oneworld carrier. Finally, the European Commission

began its own antitrust investigation into the relationship between KLM and Northwest.

The EC investigation closed its investigation in late July 2002,[2] but momentum for forming a true alliance had been lost. The members of would-be Wings focused on bilateral agreements with smaller carriers instead. In 2003 KLM began negotiations to merge with SkyTeam carrier Air France, which was concluded in early 2004, while Continental Airlines and Northwest began negotiating their own entry. KLM, Northwest, and Continental formally joined SkyTeam in September 2004, rendering the Wings alliance officially defunct.

Possible member airlines

Airline	Notes
Air China	Expressed interest in joining
Air Europa	Expressed interest in joining
Alitalia
Continental Airlines
Garuda Indonesia	Expressed interest in joining
KLM
Malaysia Airlines	Expressed interest in joining
Northwest Airlines

References

[1] Wings alliance dependent on Malpensa hub

[2] EU ends investigation into Star and Wings alliances

[1]

Possible member airlines

See also

References