Russian S7 Airlines suspended its membership to Oneworld as of April 19th. The decision, which the company said was taken «jointly», was due to the restrictions on international air traffic, which particularly impact the Russian market. It had been a member of the alliance since 2010.
The company says the measure was necessary after being unable to carry out virtually any international operations.
In a statement, the company said that passengers will maintain the benefits of its bilateral codeshare agreements with various companies. However, Oneworld’s own services will not be available as long as the current situation continues.
Some members of the alliance had already made changes to their agreements with S7 Airlines. Since March 1st, the possibility of issuing miles redemption tickets or earning new points on American Airlines flights has been suspended. The two IAG airlines, British Airways and Iberia, decided to do the same as of March 14th. Alaska Airlines joined the measures on April 8th.
Frequent flyers on S7 Airlines will thus be restricted in certain additional benefits, such as access to VIP lounges. Similarly, members of other airlines’ frequent flyer programs will no longer have access to the Russian airline’s services.
Frequent flyers will still be able to earn mileage on Qatar Airways flights. However, they will not be able to use their points to issue tickets on flights operated by the airline which is, along with Emirates and Turkish Airlines, one of the few foreign carriers that continue to fly to and from Russia.
S7 Airlines has a fleet of Airbus A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, Boeing 737-800, 737 MAX 8, 737-800BCF (freighter), and Embraer 170 aircraft. Until the implementation of the restrictions, it had a significant network of destinations in Russia, Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Japan, China, and southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, the partnership between SkyTeam and Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, remains unchanged.
See also: European Commission adds 21 Russian airlines to its black list
