| The Airline Cooperative | |
| Headquarters: | Seefeldstraße 69, Zürich, Switzerland |
| Membership: | 147 International Airlines (2015) |
| Abbreviation: | ACO |
| Type: | International trade association |
The Airline Cooperative (ACO) is a membership organisation formed by a broad group of International Airlines, with the structure of a Cooperative Society. The pivotal aim of the Cooperative is to share non-competitive information, and work together to increase awareness of relevant safety and security concerns, improve efficiency, reduce costs, learn, and grow.[1]
As of March 2015, there were 147 airlines in the group.[2] These airlines are located in 66 countries worldwide, at 116 airport base locations.[3]
The Airline Cooperative is differentiated from existing airline groups like IATA, AEA, ERA, and so on, in that these are all primarily acting as Trade associations, with a vertical structure that focuses on Political Lobbying at the top. The Airline Cooperative instead focuses on peer-to-peer communication, with Airlines talking directly to each other on key focus areas such as Security, Flight Operations, Route information, Large-scale ATC and Weather events, Emergency Response Planning, and Ground Handling issues.[4]
The initial members of The Airline Cooperative came together in 2012, to run a beta-test involving sharing information across the Flight Operations departments of the member airlines.[5]
In 2014, the group had expanded to 80 member airlines.
In 2015, the group reached 140 member airlines and continues to grow.[6]
In March 2015, a published map showed there to be:
- 147 Airline members worldwide
- 66 countries with Airline Cooperative airline members
- 116 Airport bases with airlines taking part in the Cooperative