The oneworld alliance, of which American Airlines and now US Airways are key members, has traditionally been weak in Central Europe. Okay, that’s kind of what you get when the alliance’s two biggest European member airlines are British Airways and the Spanish carrier Iberia. The addition of Air Berlin, Germany’ second biggest airline, to the alliance two years ago was suppose to help fill that Central European gap.
So how’s that working out? Not so well, as Air Berlin continues to lose money and is now to the point of having to ask existing shareholders for more cash. So if you were hoping that Air Berlin might fill the role that Lufthansa held when US Airways was in the Star Alliance in generating traffic and flights to Germany from Charlotte, you’ll be rather disappointed.
