Who is in Star Alliance?
The Star Alliance is a leading global airline connecting partner in the global airline industry. Originally formed in 1997, Star Alliance was the pioneer of a more advanced model of service and program linking among its member airlines. Its role has been to offer convenient and comfortable transport to passengers within cities or districts and across international borders across the world.
Currently, Star Alliance has 26 member airlines that use over 4500 planes to transport passengers to 1290 destinations in 195 different countries as of 2022. It transports over 700 million passengers annually on its network of member airlines. These are tall figures, but with the Star Alliance, flyers have the broadest air transportation network today.
Star Alliance Founding Members
The Star Alliance was created in 1997 by five airlines:
- United Airlines
- Lufthansa German Airlines
- Air Canada
- SAS Scandinavian Airlines
- Thai Airways International
These founding members aimed at cultivating improved relations between the airlines involved. This was made possible by the formation of a coalition that enabled them to harmonize flight connectivity between members. Thus enabling the improvement of their network’s integration.
Current Star Alliance Members
Today it has become a much larger and more comprehensive alliance, having started with just five member airlines. Here is the full list, in alphabetical order, of the current Star Alliance member airlines:
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- ANA or All Nippon Airways Only
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Brussels Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EGYPTAIR
- Ethiopian Airlines
- EVA Air
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa German Airlines
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- SWISS International Air Lines
- TAP Air Portugal
- THAI Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
Connecting Partner Airlines
Not only does it have many full-member airlines, it also has many affiliated members, including many small regional airlines. These ‘Connecting Partners’, while not adding a vast amount of network reach in terms of the alliance, do increase the range of its contacts.
Some of the forming partners are Connecting partners such as Air Link, Anisec Luftfahrt, and Japan Air Commuter. It means that the passengers can access these partners through the members of the alliance. From there, one can increase the flight options through the Star Alliance partners.
More specifically, the New Entrants and Exit list provides information on specific airlines that have been added or removed from the market in the last few years.
With the expansion of the alliance, the Star Alliance has had membership changes in and out of some major carriers over the years.
The most recent carrier to join the alliance was THAI Airways in early 2021. However, one of the regional members of the alliance, Brazil’s Avianca, did temporarily leave the alliance in 2020 because of the financial situation. It officially came back into operation in 2022 once the bankruptcy processes were concluded.
Some of the other notable exits are the EVA Air Member Exit in 2016 due to the company changing its status to a start-up airline and then rejoining and the South African Airways Member Exit in 2017. South Africa subsequently rejoined the alliance in 2020 after it had strengthened and found more capital for the business.
The Numerous Advantages of the Many Passengers Through Flying with the Star Alliance Members
However, the value of this star alliance partnership between these airline companies is the numerous superior amenities flying with its member's consent.
These include:
- Usage of accrued and accumulated points and miles across all airlines and in earning redemptions
- Mutual lounge access for frequent customers or Program Membership Rewards program
- Concessions accorded to priority check-in, priority boarding, priority baggage delivery, and wait-listing advantages
- Express security lanes in some airports
- Assured recognition in addition to the standardization of elite status tiers whenever one is to fly on another member airline
Responsible for shaping experiences for passengers, Star Alliance aims to harmonize policies and amenities to offer a quality customer experience. First-class, high-frequency travelers benefit tremendously because they can attain VIP treatment no matter the choice of airline for any given flight.
In general, the idea of the Star Alliance is much more comprehensive and consistent in forming a loyalty reward network than that of non-allied airlines. But for that global traveler who can navigate different carriers, the benefits of loyalty and the opportunity to get better service are indeed very attractive.
A relationship is slowly emerging from a particularly challenging period and preparing for the next steps of its development.
It may be noted that, as outside trends influence the future of aviation, whether it is in the form of new entrants or sustainable growth, the Star Alliance always adapts to enhance the value proposition for passengers.
Some of the recent activities include integrating reservation interfaces, extending airline connections, especially in the fast-growing market segments such as the Chinese and Indians, and developing environmental enhancement programs such as carbon neutralization and fuel economy.
Star Alliance also allows the centralization of operations through a standardized and centralized alliance management structure, thus boosting the efficiency of scaling, achieving lethal carrier synergies, and even increasing the ability to adapt to new technologies and travelers’ requirements.
The future outlook for the Star Alliance points to the fact that, in the near future, it is likely to maintain its position as one of the leading global airline networks. Its ever-expanding list of partners will go on creating new channels and mileage redemption programs to entice passengers.
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