SriLankan Airlines to join OneWorld… huh?

In what seems like a move to cover more of the Asia region, OneWorld is inviting SirLankan Airlines to the alliance.

I’m still trying to work this out, but this is looking like a cover move after the Kingfisher Airlines debacle without actually having to have a member airline in India itself, whilst increasing the OneWorld footprint.

The airline will formally join OneWorld late 2013, and is being guided through the implementation by Cathay Pacific.

SriLankan Airlines will add three new destinations in southern India – Kochi, Tiruchirapalli and Thiruvananthapuram –  to the OneWorld network of 850 destinations in 150 countries.

The airline operates 21 aircraft to 34 destinations in 22 countries using a mixture of Airbus A320, A330-200 and A340-300 aircraft, with a long range fleet renovation plan in design.

It’s an intresting move by Oneworld, and it’ll be intresting how the other alliances respond to this.