Russian airline Aeroflot has this week become the tenth member of the SkyTeam airline alliance.

Joining the alliance has meant that the airline has had to focus strongly on improving safety and service standards in recent years. It has been rapidly updating its fleet and, last October, successfully passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit.

Aeroflot passengers can now earn frequent flyer miles on the other airlines in the alliance and vice versa. The existing members are Aeroméxico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. With Aeroflot, the carriers will together operate 15,000 daily departures to 728 destinations worldwide.

The news follows the recent expansion of the Star Alliance.