Malaysia Airlines, which is a member elect of the oneworld alliance, will be inducted as a full-member of the alliance with effect from February 1, 2013. The airline was invited to be a part of the alliance in June 2011, with Qantas being their sponsor into the alliance.

As per a news release on the oneworld website,

Malaysia Airlines will become a full member of oneworld^® with effect from Friday 1 February 2013, adding one of commercial aviation’s most frequent award winners to the world’s leading quality airline alliance.

The national airline of Malaysia received clearance to board oneworld after successfully completing a thorough review of its readiness conducted by Qantas, which is sponsoring its entry into the alliance, with the oneworld central team.

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Malaysia Airlines will start offering oneworld’s full range of services and benefits from 1 February 2013 – becoming the alliance’s second airline operating the Airbus A380, after its oneworld sponsor Qantas.

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Enrich Platinum cardholders will have Emerald status in the oneworld programme.  Enrich Gold will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire and Enrich Silver will be oneworld Ruby.

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Malaysia Airlines will substantially expand the alliance’s network in South East Asia, where it will add 14 destinations and one country – Brunei – to the oneworld map.  More significantly, it will strengthen the alliance’s connectivity between many key business cities in Asia and other parts of the world.

 

So, there. oneworld is going in bigtime with this. The smallest alliance, which claims it only lets quality airlines in, is growing with Malaysia Airlines coming on board, and next up Qatar Airways and Sri Lankan are in queue.

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