Alliance award for KLM & Northwest Airlines

The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) has named the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines transatlantic joint venture as recipient of its global 2007 ASAP Individual Alliance Excellence Award. The awards recognize and celebrate companies that have achieved dramatic success in their alliances and alliance programs.

Recipients of the Individual Alliance Excellence Award are judged by the ASAP Awards Committee consisting of leading academics, analysts, thought leaders and consultants who have extensive experience with and insight into strategic alliances.

The judges determined that KLM/Northwest have demonstrated true commitment to advancing and sharing alliance management practices in their specific relationship, resulting in tangible business results through alliance innovation and implementation.

"Since the start of our cooperation in 1989, KLM and Northwest Airlines have received many awards and other recognitions from within the airline industry and – more importantly – from our passenger and cargo customers,” said Hans de Roos, senior vice president of Alliances at KLM. “We feel very honored now to receive this recognition from strategic alliance professionals in other businesses."

"ASAP recognizes the unique governance structure of the NWA/KLM alliance. By honing its decision-making and communication structure over time, the companies have been able to cope with and exploit the dynamics of the airline industry for more than 17 years," said Nick Palmer, a Partner with Accenture Ltd. and chairman of the ASAP Awards Committee. "The companies have managed this complex, highly interdependent relationship successfully. They have built on successes and setbacks to materially improve their position. In addition, the alliance has helped shape competition in the airline industry in general. It has broken ground for the other airline alliances that have followed its lead, moving airlines toward alliance-based competition."

“Not only was the Northwest/KLM alliance the first major airline alliance in the world, ours is the most deeply integrated,” said Phil Haan, executive vice president – international, alliances and information technology and chairman of NWA Cargo. “The Northwest/KLM alliance includes coordination of schedules, prices and capacity to provide the ultimate in customer convenience while creating substantial financial benefits for both airlines. Prior to the implementation of the alliance, travelers would often be forced to change aircraft and airlines multiple times, recheck luggage, and keep track of several tickets in order to reach their final destination. Now, a flight from Des Moines to Cairo is as simple as one ticket, a single luggage check-in, and an easy connection through Northwest/KLM hubs”:


According to ASAP judges, award recipients are companies that are exemplary –serving as models of effective alliance management; innovative – advancing the state of the art of alliance management; high-impact – achieving major business success through alliances management; and open – willing to share experiences and best practices with other ASAP members and with the larger alliance professional community.

The awards were being presented last (Thursday) as part of the ASAP 2007 Alliance Summit, held at the Westin Airport Hotel in San Francisco.