Airline
In the Airline industry, all strategic alliances between carriers are called horizontal alliances: which means that they are sharing agreements with others companies offering the same product, or service in the same market. Strategic marketing alliances consists of formal contractual arrangements between two airlines. Airlines companies can choose to be part of an alliance through different agreements. There are four major categories: the first is the Resource based alliance which involves flight operation, joint route planning, crew and airplane sharing, joint maintenance. The second is the Network based alliance, with schedule integration, code sharing, joint pricing, airports hubs; The third one is the Global service based alliance involving the marketing arrangements such as frequent flyer programmes, access to airport lounges, joint handling, purchasing, advertising and promotion. And the fourth one is simply the Branded alliance through franchising. Most of the time, alliances between two partners are made under the code sharing agreement, which enables an airline to share the service of another airline and sell that service as if it were its own flight. Therefore customers will receive a greater number of destinations and flight choices on several airlines. In other words, several airlines are joining alliances to benefit from either the cooperative purchasing and maintenance agreements, the marketing agreements, or the code sharing. Basically, all major international carriers choose to co-ordinate the procurement of parts and the maintenance of airplanes. Through this collaboration, both parties can benefit from each others resources and expertise. Then, concerning alliances under marketing agreements, the innovation in the airline marketing is the Frequent Flyer Programme (FFP). Such programmes aimed to attract customer loyalty by rewarding repeat customers with sometimes free flights and other benefits based on mileage points earned with the airline. As a matter of fact, many airlines are forming alliances to offer broader Frequent Flyer Programmes by sharing the cost of offering free flights to travellers. And finally, another innovation that made airline alliances a good idea was the development of code sharing agreements. Such agreements enabled different airlines to share their reservation codes, allowing the seamless coordination of services to passengers. For instance, the passengers could schedule many flights and have a better luggage handling on the transfer flights. Many airlines also linked the code sharing agreements with each airline Frequent Flyer Programme so as to create a competitive advantage and add value through their services.