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Airline alliances
航空公司联盟
The airmiles-high clubs
高空俱乐部
Three airline alliances cover most of the world—where do they go next?
三家航空公司联盟已然覆盖了整个世界-接下来何去何从呢？
FOR businesspeople who spend much of their time in the air, the three global airline clubs—Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam—are all about such goodies as frequent-flyer points and access to comfy lounges.
对于那些成天飞来飞去的商务人士来说，提到星空联盟、环宇一家、天合联盟这三家全球航空俱乐部就意味着飞行常客奖励点数和贵宾室待遇。
For the airlines that belong to them, the main benefit is that the other members hook them up with lots of passengers seeking connecting flights, helping them to fill their planes.
而对于那些航空公司联盟成员而言，最大的好处就是联盟成员可以相互之间把那些转机乘客的航线关联起来，来增加客座率。
Since the alliances started in the late 1990s, they have steadily signed up new members.
航空联盟成立于90年代后期，并不断稳定的发展新的联盟成员。
Until recently SkyTeam, which includes Air France, KLM and Delta, was the laggard.
虽然最近天合联盟发展慢了下来，但它已经收获颇丰，
But it has gained altitude by signing, among others, China Eastern and China Southern, two of China's big three carriers.
尤其是签了中国三大航空巨头其中的两家，中国东方航空公司和中国南方航空公司。
Star Alliance, which includes Lufthansa, United-Continental and Singapore Airlines, remains the biggest, having signed up Air China, the third of the mainland's big three.
星空联盟依然是规模最大的，包括了德国汉莎航空公司、美国联合航空及大陆航空联营公司、新加坡航空公司，并签约了大陆三巨头之一的中国国际航空公司。
One world, which includes British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia and Cathay Pacific, will soon welcome aboard India's Kingfisher.
环宇一家则包括英国航空公司、美国航空公司、利比亚航空公司以及国泰航空公司，同时也即将迎来印度翠鸟航空的加盟。
Now there are few big network airlines left to be nabbed.
现如今剩下的几家拥有大型航空网络的航空公司成了抢手货。
The juiciest prize still on offer is LATAM, a giant to be formed next year through a merger of Brazil's TAM and Chile's LAN, which will dominate the skies of South America.
最让人垂涎欲滴的就是拉美航空公司，是将在明年由巴西天马航空公司和智利航空公司合并成的一个庞然大物，并成为南美洲天空的霸主。
TAM now belongs to Star and LAN to one world, but regulators will force the merged carrier to choose.
现在天马航空是星空联盟的成员而智利航空是环宇一家的成员，但是监管机构将强制合并后的公司选择其中一家联盟。
Star has already signed up two Latin American rivals, AviancaTaca and Copa, but it is not impossible to imagine it jilting either of these, if that were necessary to be allowed to admit LATAM.
尽管星空联盟已经签约了拉美航空市场的另外两个玩家，中美洲航空公司和巴拿马航空公司，但是不难想象的是为了拉美航空公司的加盟，如果必要的话星空联盟将舍弃其中一家。
One world needs LATAM even more: as the only alliance to lack a member in mainland China, it cannot afford to drop two BRICs.
环宇一家更是对拉美航空公司青眼有加，因为作为唯一一个没有中国大陆航空公司加盟的航空联盟，它无法承担失去两个金砖四国成员的航空市场。
In India's big but chaotic market, oneworld is sorted, but Star and SkyTeam are said to be chasing Jet Airways.
印度是一个巨大而混乱的市场，环宇一家还在考察，但据说星空联盟和天合联盟已开始争夺捷特航空公司。
Star spent years negotiating with Air India, the deeply troubled flag-carrier, but suspended talks in July.
星空联盟已经花费数年和陷入运营困境的国家航运公司-印度航空公司谈判，但是7月份的时候却中止了对话。
The Arabian Gulf's three “superconnectors”—Emirates, Etihad and Qatar—are unsigned, but are growing so quickly that they see little need for allies.
阿拉伯海湾的三家“超级网络”却没签约加盟，包括酋长国航空公司、阿提哈德航空和卡塔尔航空，它们迅速扩张似乎并不怎么需要联盟。
That leaves just a few independent carriers with long-haul networks.
那么就剩下为数不多的几家拥有长途航线的航运公司可选择了。
Virgin Atlantic is one: its bid to buy bmi, Lufthansa's money-losing British offshoot, seems to have failed, with BA's parent company the likely buyer.
英国维珍大西洋航空公司就是其中一家，它对英伦航空的竞标看起来是没戏了，因为英国航空公司的母公司想要收构英伦航空。
The question is whether Virgin can continue in splendid isolation when all around it are in cosy co-operation.
关键是维珍航空还能继续光荣独立么，而周遭都是安逸的协同合作。
Somewhat like the European Union, the alliances have “variable geometry”:
这有些像欧盟，联盟采用“可变机翼”的原则：
members do not have to join all initiatives, and non-members sometimes take part in selected activities.
联盟成员不必响应所有的活动，而非联盟成员则可以参加特定的活动。
Each alliance has at its core a group of carriers which pool their flights in the huge transatlantic market.
在巨大的跨大西洋市场里，每个联盟都有自己的一组核心成员把各自的班机放在一起联合运营。
America's Department of Transportation has given these ventures immunity from antitrust prosecution.
美国交通运输部给予这些合企业反垄断起诉的豁免权。
The European Commission has approved oneworld's transatlantic venture, with conditions, but is still investigating the other two.
欧盟委员会已经有条件的批准了环宇一家的跨大西洋合资公司，但还在审查另外两家的申请。
A report by London-based Aviation Economics notes that the transatlantic ventures are a good source of profits in an otherwise hard market—but if they start to look too successful, regulators may get tougher.
一份来自伦敦航空经济研究报告所示，跨大西洋合资公司在竞争激烈的市场能有效的产生利润，但一旦它们过分高调的话，监管机构就会变得强硬起来。
The alliances have encouraged their members to co-operate on such things as buying cabin interiors, to obtain better prices from suppliers.
这些联盟都鼓励它们的成员通类似于团购座舱内饰等方式来合作，以便从供应商处获得更便宜的价格。
But progress is slow: only a handful of Star members are taking part in its project to buy aircraft seats jointly.
但是进展却很缓慢，只有很少量的星空联盟的成员参与了这个项目来联合购买飞机座位。
A consultant to one of the alliances says he has spent two years trying to persuade its members to agree on a joint check-in desk at one airport.
一位来自其中一个联盟的的咨询顾问声称他用了2年的时间尝试去说服联盟成员在机场建立一个联合登机手续办理窗口。
SkyTeam's boss, Michael Wisbrun,
而天合联盟的老板迈克尔?威斯布伦说，
says even simple stuff like this saves a lot of money, so he is urging his member airlines to make it their priority.
类似于这些看似简单的改变将节省大笔费用; 因此他一直敦促其联盟成员优先去做这些事情。
As the alliances struggle both to broaden and deepen further, they face being unpicked by their customers, as ever more of them build their own flight itineraries using online portals, which can result in big savings.
这些航空联盟都在尽力拓宽拓深其业务领域，然而他们却要面临客户流失的问题，因为越来越多的人通过在线网站来安排自己的飞行旅程来节省开销。
Oneworld's boss, Bruce Ashby, says the alliances are aimed at offering seamless service to business flyers who care more about convenience than price.
环宇一家的老板布鲁斯.阿什比声称联盟志在为那些视便捷性甚于价格的商务人士提供无缝服务。
The trouble is, such passengers are also sensitive to the big variations that still exist between each alliance's member airlines.
不过麻烦的是，这类乘客对于同一个联盟内的不同航空公司的巨大差异非常敏感。
Those used to plush Asian and European business-class cabins are often dismayed when they transfer to their airline's American alliance partner, where the service is poorer and—horrors—the seats don't always convert to fully flat beds.
那些习惯于亚洲和欧洲的豪华商务舱的人士，当他们被转到联盟内的美国航班时总是很失望，因为这些航班服务很差而且更恼火的的是有时候座椅居然不能转成躺椅模式。
