Air Transport

Airline alliance co-location moves have taken a further step after the five oneworld members serving Barcelona El Prat Airport alongside Iberiatransferred operations into its new Terminal 1 on 9 Septemberas part of a second phase of movements into the newly opened terminal.

Oneworld membersAmerican Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Malev and Royal Jordanian will join Iberia, its regional affiliate Air Nostrum and its part-owned low-cost unit Vuelingin Terminal 1. The airlines will have adjoining desks in the building.

The new Terminal 1 at El Prat features 166 check-in counters and is designed to handle more than 30 million passengers annually. Following the move around 70% of all operations at the airport will now gothrough Terminal 1. SkyTeam carriers operating at El Prat are scheduled to transfer to Terminal 1 on 25 October.

For oneworld it marks a further grouping together of its members at key European airports. It comes after seven oneworld carriers transferred into Terminal 4 at Iberia's Madrid base in 2006, while its members' operating at London Heathrow have been transitioning from five terminals to just two. The last of these moves will be completed next month.