oneworld Again Named World's Best Airline Alliance LONDON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- oneworld has once again been named the world's Best Airline Alliance by some of the most frequent of the world's flyers. It received its latest honor in the 2004 Business Traveller Awards. The magazine presents its trophies based on the findings of its annual poll of readers, who include some of the most widely traveled passengers around the world. It is the second time that oneworld has received this award in the three years it has been presented. oneworld was also named the World's Leading Airline Alliance in the most recent World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by 80,000 travel agency professionals from more than 200 countries. "This is a great vote of confidence from some of our key customers," said oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch. "It reflects the quality of our airline members, our lead in serving more countries and in offering more alliance fare products than our competitors, and our determination to deliver alliance customer service better than anyone else." oneworld members virtually swept the board in the various airline categories. British Airways took seven prizes -- as best airline overall and best for First Class, Business Class, Economy Class, long-haul travel, short- haul airline and frequent flyer program. American Airlines was voted top North American airline. Members of rival alliances managed just two honors between them. In the other leading industry awards this year -- the 2004 OAG Airline of the Year and the 2004 SkyTrax Airline of the Year -- oneworld's partner airlines gained more accolades than members of both its competitor alliances combined. In the 2004 Airline Strategy Awards, run by the highly regarded Airline Business magazine, oneworld carriers took four of the six awards. Members of other alliances did not receive a mention between them. The top prize, for Executive Leadership, was won by a oneworld carrier for the third year running, keeping it in the alliance's hands since the award's inception. Airline Business' U.S. counterpart, Air Transport World, also presented more awards to the grouping's partners than to members of other global alliances at its prize-giving ceremony in January, selecting Qantas as its overall Airline of the Year, with another special award for Aer Lingus. oneworld -- comprising Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus besides American Airlines and British Airways -- is the most international of the global airline alliances, serving more countries than any of its rivals, a total of 135 territories. It also offers a wider range of alliance fare and sales products than all the competition combined. Reflecting the quality of its partners, it is also the only alliance whose members ended last year with a collective profit. The alliance is aimed at providing more services and value for its partners and their customers than any airline can achieve on its own. For passengers, this includes the opportunity to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined 575-destination oneworld network and, for top-tier customers, access to almost 400 airport lounges worldwide. To encourage existing and new members of its airlines' frequent flyer programs to explore more of its unrivalled network, the alliance is currently offering a special bonus of up to 15,000 miles or points, redeemable throughout the oneworld network. To participate, you must fly on three oneworld airlines, using eligible fares, between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30, 2004. See http://www.oneworld.com/ for details. oneworld's eight airlines and their affiliates carried more than 220 million passengers last year on a combined fleet of almost 2,000 aircraft, earning revenues of approximately U.S. $50 billion. The Business Traveller survey is the only travel survey conducted by a U.K.-based publication that is independent, authoritative and complies with the rules laid out by the Market Research Society. DATASOURCE: oneworld CONTACT: Michael Blunt, PR of oneworld, +44-20-8738-5173, or +44-7789-612712, or ; or Media Relations of Aer Lingus, +353-1-886-2573; or Corporate Communications of American Airlines, +1-817-967-1577, or ; or Press Office of British Airways, +44-20-8738-5100; or Corporate Communications of Cathay Pacific, +852-2747-8282; or Corporate Communications of Finnair, +358-981-84970; or Communications of Iberia, +34-91-587-7462, or ; or Communications of LAN, +562-565-3975; or Corporate Communication of Qantas, +61-2-9691-4058 Web site: http://www.oneworld.com/ http://www.oneworld.com/pressroom http://www.aerlingus.com/ http://www.aa.com/pressreleases http://www.britishairways.com/press http://www.cathaypacific.com/ http://www.finnair.com/ http://www.iberia.com/ http://www.lan.com/ http://www.qantas.com.au/

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