One of our unfulfilled goals was to expand our reach to 32 virtual airlines. We reached 27. First announced in 2006, here's a look at what the remaining five would have been.Aeroflot Russian Airlines
We decided early on that we needed airlines in China, India, and Russia to round out our portfolio of VAs. For Russia, is there really any other option? Once the largest airline in the world, Aeroflot is stronger internationally than domestically, but a new merger and a refocus eastward is rapidly changing that position. A special feature would of course been the inclusion of Soviet/Russian airliners such as the Il-86, Il-96, Tu-134, Tu-154, and Superjet 100. As a bonus, we added the Tu-144 "Konkordski" in 2008.
AeromexicoThe largest and primary international airline in Mexico would have been our final addition in the Western Hemisphere. Continental actually serves more airports in Mexico than any native carriers, but Aeromexico still would have offered new longhaul operations from the country, though admittedly few compared to other international carriers. Due to Mexico City's high altitude, services to Shanghai and Tokyo fly westbound via Tijuana. Also included would have been regional affiliate Aeromexico Connect.
China Southern AirlinesAfter consolidation early in the decade, China had shrunk down to three major state-owned carriers (Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern) and one privately held, Hainan Airlines. China Eastern was and still is the weak sister, so we were deciding between Air China and China Southern. In the end we selected China Southern for its larger size, larger and more varied domestic network, future SkyTeam membership (certainty of schedule availability), and better livery.
Jet AirwaysIndia had several good options to choose from: Air India, Air Deccan, Air Sahara, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, or the new upstarts like IndiGo, Kingfisher, and SpiceJet. Since our decision, Air India bought Indian, Jet Airways bought Air Sahara, and Kingfisher bought Air Deccan. We selected Jet Airways because at the time it was successful, well-managed, poised for growth, and had the largest share of the domestic market. Four years later, these are all the same.
Undecided
Originally touted as a German replacement for Air Berlin, we later softened to call it a European replacement. The fact is that there are very few other airlines of size in Germany that were options. Lufthansa doesn't allow virtual airlines (FS Pilot Group, our codeshare partner, is not branded as such), and Air Berlin gobbled up other domestic competitors in the years since (dba, LTU, and almost Condor). What's left? Maybe Lufthansa-owned Germanwings or one of the charter airlines, but unfortunately very little. Thanks to our Lufthansa codeshare and Pan American Berlin operations, we still had a good German presence.
As a result, we looked beyond Germany. Air Berlin was great because it gave us a major European LCC (the third largest), hubs in Spain as well as Germany, and smaller bases in nearby Austria and Switzerland. The names I had in mind for our final European VA were Iberia, Norwegian Air Shuttle, and SAS. Iberia had the benefits of size, growth, and an expected merger with British Airways. Norwegian Air Shuttle, the least known of the group, is now Europe's fourth largest LCC and has hubs around Scandinavia and Poland. SAS of course is a Scandinavian icon, but has the downside of being a struggling entity today and several other VAs. Ultimately, I think the preferred order would have been Norwegian, Iberia, then SAS.