China Southern Airlines to quit SkyTeam alliance
Airline to focus on its own development strategy
Shanghai/Singapore — China Southern Airlines says it will leave the SkyTeam airline alliance on January 1 2019 to meet the needs of the company’s own development strategy. SkyTeam is one of the world’s three major airline alliances and had two big Chinese carriers, China Southern and rival China Eastern Airlines, as members, which is unusual given that they operate in the same market. The alliances, which also include Star Alliance and Oneworld, provide reciprocal benefits for passengers such as lounge usage and frequent flyer points. China Southern, the country’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said in a statement on Thursday that the SkyTeam alliance respected the firm’s decision to not renew its membership. SkyTeam said it would work with China Southern to ensure a seamless transition for all customers and partners. That process will run throughout 2019 and will complete by the year-end. China Southern said in a separate statement posted to the Shanghai stock exchange that ...
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