Abstract: strategic alliances are the driving force behind the global airline market. Global strategic alliances account for about 2/3 of passenger air traffic. This form of partnership has obvious advantages for both airlines and passengers. Further development of the global air transportation market will be accompanied by increased inter-alliance competition of the “big three”: Star Alliance, Sky Team and One World. Globalization processes have led to a change in the concept of organizing flights around the world, and strategic alliances have allowed ensuring this conceptual transition organizationally and technically. If earlier the traditional form of air service was turn-around flights from one city to another and back, or the so-called “point to point” flights, then in the future the architecture of the global air transportation market began to change. Now, with the development of airport infrastructure, increasing the number of routes and flight segments, improving and developing the technical characteristics of aircraft, the concept of “point to point” flights has been supplemented with a new form – “hub and spoke”. In other words, in regional international markets, mainly near major cities, hub airports and major transport hubs began to appear, providing for the increasing scale and needs of the aviation industry. With the increase in the number of flights and the consolidation of flight segments, it was realized that it was only possible to ensure large-scale market coverage by partnering with competing air carriers that have exclusive rights in national and regional markets. By entering into partnership agreements, air carriers have come to a new conceptual approach in the organization of air traffic.
Keywords: global passenger air transportation market, global strategic alliances, aviation industry, commercial activities of air carriers, inter-alliance competition