Dragonair announced on Monday that it will become a member of oneworld, one of the world's three aviation alliances, on November 1 this year.

The company also vowed to offer the alliance's full range of services and benefits to its customers and at the same time greatly enhance oneworld's coverage in the Chinese mainland.

"Becoming a member of oneworld is an exciting development for Dragonair and is the latest benefit to result from our becoming part of the Cathay Pacific Group," said Chief Executive Officer of Dragonair Kenny Tang.

"We are pleased that oneworld customers will be able to connect through Hong Kong to our extensive network of destinations in the Chinese mainland and to the increasing number of business and leisure destinations we serve in the region," he added.

Oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch said that the addition of Dragonair means that oneworld will maintain its lead in China. "With our combination of Dragonair, Cathay Pacific and the award-winning Hong Kong hub, it means that oneworld will offer the best quality airline service for travel to or from the whole of China," he said.

Twelve of Dragonair's Chinese mainland destinations are Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Sanya, Shenyang and Wuhan, which will take the number of Chinese mainland destinations served by the oneworld network to 22.

With Dragonair's joining oneworld, the alliance's network will cover more than 700 destinations in almost 150 countries and areas.

Dragonair's sister airline Cathay Pacific is one of the founding members of the 10 oneworld alliance. The members include American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines. Around 20 other carriers are affiliate members.

Oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network on any combination of carriers using electronic tickets.