A folder full of airport apps will become a thing of the past for OneWorld passengers, Simple Flying has learnt. On Friday, the OneWorld alliance announced that over the next two years all OneWorld flights will be available on any member airline's app. The announcement was acompanied by a OneWorld rebrand.

The new initiative is to make travel even easier for business travellers on multi-airline itineraries. Rob Gurney, OneWorld CEO, told how airline alliances "have failed to keep pace with the changes that their members, the industry at large and the marketplace have experienced". He added that "OneWorld is undergoing a radical transformation".

One App To Rule Them All

I couldn't recall the number of airline apps I've had installed on my phone. It's a constant annoyance having to download another one each time I want to travel somewhere new. Now, OneWorld is aiming to change this with the introduction of a new initiative named "Travel Bright".

OneWorld has spent the past six months working on the project which has been shrouded in secrecy. Following a vast amount of work, a platform has been created called "carrierconnect". The new platform allows the different airlines' systems to talk to each other.

Qatar and Cathay Pacific

As the system is still being rolled out, it will take a while to go live across the alliance, however, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific are already live. Travellers on these airlines can use their choice of app for everything from checking in to tracking their baggage. Eventually, this will be available to any passenger on a OneWorld member airline.

The initiative is targeted at passengers making journeys that require a change of carrier. When I travelled from London to Los Angeles via Chicago, I had to use both the British Airways and American Airlines app. OneWorld estimates there are more than 8 million similar passengers each year. In fact, Rob Gurney said that "half of [OneWorld frequent flyers] have at least three different airline apps on their [phone]".

New Branding

The announcement was accompanied by a complete rebrand of the alliance. Up until now, the alliance had been using a rather dated website. On Friday, however, the alliance rolled out a brand new look. The new brand uses the same logo, however, incorporates a number of brightly coloured graphics. It strikes Simple Flying as a very millennial look. However, OneWorld told us that time and time again, feedback was positive despite age, culture, or language spoken by respondents.

Passengers should expect to see a lot of the new OneWorld branding when travelling, as the alliance has produced over 300 individual assets to accompany the campaign. This includes short video clips to be shown on aircraft screens prior to takeoff.

What will it mean to you to use one single app? Do you like the new OneWorld rebrand? Let us know in the comments down below!