Chinese airlines remain interested in aligning with global alliances despite the difficulties associated with joining up or integrating.

With Air China and Shanghai Airlines committed to Star Alliance and China Southern Airlines set to join SkyTeam, speculation has turned toward oneworld and Hainan Airlines, which recently opened a new Beijing-Osaka service in cooperation with Japan Airlines. Hainan parent HNA Group said that it established a working group in January to start preparing the carrier to join an alliance.

But Hainan Airlines may be in an inferior negotiating position, according to industry analysts, because it is based at Haikou in the deep south while alliances are targeting carriers in Beijing (Air China), Shanghai (Shanghai Airlines) and Guangzhou (China Southern). oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch told reporters last month that his group also was negotiating with China Eastern Airlines, which is based in Shanghai.

Even if an alliance regards a Chinese carrier as a good fit, the hurdles that airline must negotiate before meeting alliance standards can be significant. For example, Shanghai Airlines has had to work on improving or restructuring its IT, safety management, loyalty program, sales and marketing, legal affairs and human resources departments to conform to Star Alliance's requirements. The company has admitted that it has taken a long time to meet those requirements and that the price for its Star Alliance membership is "really high."

Chinese airlines also may suffer when allying with foreign carriers, as they have incurred heavy losses on international routes and have been forced to open their own markets to more experienced foreign competitors while being unable to tap into the potential offered by foreign markets.

But Shanghai Airlines Chairman Zhou Chi said it was worth the effort. "One single airline can't establish a foothold in every part of the world due to limitations set by national air traffic rights," he explained. "But by joining airline alliances, we can expand our international route network and better utilize our existing capacity to improve efficiency without increasing investment and fleet expansion."