The Governing Board of the oneworld® global airline alliance has nominated Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce to serve as its Chairman for the next two years.

He succeeds Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo, who is transitioning from the airline to join Finland's Metso Corporation as its new CEO. Pekka Vauramo assumed oneworld's chairmanship in June 2017.

As oneworld Governing Board Chairman, Alan Joyce (pictured) will chair its Board meetings, oversee alliance governance and work closely with oneworld CEO Rob Gurney and the central alliance team.

Prior to Pekka Vauramo, the position has been filled by CEOs from American Airlines (Gerard Arpey and Tom Horton), British Airways/IAG (Willie Walsh) and Cathay Pacific (Ivan Chu).

The oneworld Governing Board comprises the CEOs of all the alliance's member airlines - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and SriLankan Airlines, alongside Qantas. As part of oneworld, these airlines:

- Serve more than 1,000 airports in 150 plus territories, with some 14,000 daily departures.

- Carry almost 550 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of 3,500 aircraft.

- Generate more than US$ 130 billion annual revenues.

- Account for some 20 per cent of the entire global airline industry's passenger carryings and revenues.

Alan Joyce said: "As a founding member of oneworld, we are pleased the alliance has evolved over time to deliver greater value to more customers worldwide and expand its joint network. I look forward to serving as Chairman of the Governing Board and working with our oneworld partner airlines as the alliance reaches the 20th anniversary of its launch.

"On behalf of all of us at oneworld, I thank Pekka Vauramo for his leadership of the alliance and wish him all the best in his new endeavours."

About Alan Joyce, CEO, Qantas Group

Alan Joyce AC has been Qantas Group CEO since 2008. He has overseen one of the biggest transformations in the carrier's 98-year history, helping it to deliver record profit together with high levels of customer satisfaction and employee engagement. The transformation included the turnaround and renewed growth of Qantas International, the expansion of Qantas and its low-cost carrier Jetstar throughout Asia, the renewal of the group's fleet, lounges, technology and training, and the diversification of the Qantas Loyalty business with new ventures.

He previously served as founding CEO of Jetstar, establishing its operations in Australia and Asia, after spending more than 15 years in key positions at Qantas, Ansett and Aer Lingus.

About oneworld

oneworld is an alliance of some of the world's leading airlines, committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers, working together to deliver consistently a superior, seamless travel experience, with special privileges and rewards for frequent flyers, including earning and redeeming miles and points across the entire alliance network and access for the most loyal customers to more than 650 airport lounges worldwide.

Earlier this year, it launched a new platform for airlines to link up, with Fiji Airways the first invited to join as a oneworld connect partner.

oneworld is has won more "best alliance" awards than any of its competitors, as the current holder of:

- FlightStats' Airline Alliance On-Time Performance Service Award for 2017, for the fifth year running.

- Global Traveler magazine's 2017 GT Tested Reader Survey awards - for the eighth year in a row.

- Business Traveller's 2017 Best Airline Alliance for the fifth consecutive year.

- Business Traveler North America's 2017 Best in Business Travel Awards, for the third year running.

- Trazee Travel's Favorite Airline Alliance 2018 for the third time.

- World Travel Awards' World's Leading Airline Alliance 2017 for the 15th year running.

Contributed by oneworld