KUCHING: AirBorneo Airways (AirBorneo) is looking to establish its first interline partnerships as early as the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year before pursuing deeper commercial partnerships with international airlines.
Chief executive officer Megat Ardian Wira Mohd Aminuddin said interline agreements would form the first stage of the airline’s long-term partnership strategy before progressing to codeshare arrangements and eventually membership in a global airline alliance.
“We always start with interline first. From interline, we progressively work towards codeshare, and from there, joining an alliance,” he said during the Q&A session at the AirBorneo media roundtable on Wednesday (July 8).
In the aviation industry, interline agreements allow passengers to travel on multiple airlines under a single itinerary, with baggage transferred between participating carriers.
Codeshare partnerships go a step further, enabling airlines to sell seats on each other’s flights, while global alliances offer wider network connectivity and reciprocal benefits such as frequent flyer rewards, lounge access and coordinated schedules.
Megat said the airline had already begun receiving interest from several carriers despite its jet operations only commencing on July 20.
However, he acknowledged that prospective airline partners would first assess AirBorneo’s operational performance, passenger loads and route network before entering into formal agreements.
“They will look at our service reliability, our passenger loads and how well we perform. They also want to know where we fly and what kind of passengers we carry,” he said.
Megat explained that alliance membership would depend not only on the airline’s operational performance but also on whether it could add value to the wider alliance network.
“As such, discussions on joining a global alliance would likely come later—potentially within three to five years and depending on how our network develops,” he added.
AirBorneo has yet to announce a frequent flyer programme or indicate which global airline alliance it may eventually seek to join.
