India’s Kingfisher Airlines is poised to join the oneworld alliance after signing a memorandum of understanding as its first step towards full membership in the alliance, subject to Indian regulatory approval. The target date of membership has not been set but should come sometime during 2011. Kingfisher will add 58 cities to oneworld destinations and will expand the network to 800 destinations in almost 150 countries, with approximately 9,000 flights a day and carrying about 340 million passengers a year. British Airways will support Kingfisher through its alliance implementation as its oneworld sponsor. Kingfisher is India’s only five star airline, as rated by Skytrax, the independent airline quality research organization. It flies to 70 destinations worldwide, 63 of them in India, in eight countries including cities in Asia, the Middle East and the U.K.