SkyTeam, which added Vietnam Airlines to its alliance last month, will soon add two more members to the team.
Romania’s Tarom Airlines will join later this week and offer an alternative to SkyTeam’s already robust presence in Europe. Tarom also offers flights to the Middle East.
China Eastern plans to join SkyTeam later in the year and will offer passengers greater connectivity in China and throughout Asia, as well as service to/from a handful of cities in North America.
Even with the three latest additions to the club, SkyTeam will continue to seek out partners, especially in Latin America.
SkyTeam needs new members to expand in Asia, India and Latin America, alliance Chairman Leo van Wijk said today in a telephone interview from New York. He declined to name the carriers that SkyTeam is pursuing, saying most are regional carriers serving a single country or a few countries.
On a related note, Aegean Airlines will join Star Alliance on June 30th. Now Star Alliance flyers can use their miles to get further than Athens when traveling to Greece. Aegean also serves Cairo and Tel Aviv and they plan to merge with Olympic Airlines in the fall. Good news for Star flyers. I look forward to exploring the Greek Isles.
Note: The route maps above contain some partner destinations not served by the airline itself.
Wonder how many 24 hour turns you’ll be able to fit in a series of island hops…