3 New Star Alliance Members Announced This Weekend

BestWestern · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:30 pm

So who are the three?

1. TAP Air Portugal
2. Jet Airways
3. European Regional carrier???? Air Alps? Air Baltic? Portugalia?

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040604/airlines_singapore_alliance_1.html

"Star Alliance, the world's largest airline network, is set to name three new members on Saturday as it seeks to extend into high growth regions, its chief executive Jaan Albrecht said."

"We are talking to several carriers in China, Russia, India, Africa and Western Europe. We have chosen these places because they are where traffic growth is taking place," Albrecht told Reuters in an interview on Friday"

"Swiss International Air Lines was not among the three"

"Albrecht said one of the three was a European regional carrier -- the first time that the alliance is accepting a regional airline as a member. He declined to identify the three".

CHRISBA777ER · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:43 pm

FlyBE perhaps? I wrote their business and creit report a while back and think an alliance would suit them - though i have to say SkyTeam would suit them more.

CM

CarbHeatIn · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:48 pm

EK who recently terminated their code share agreements with BA? Not in the geographical regions mentioned so probably not.

Horus · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:50 pm

EK have stated on many occasions they are not interested in joining any global alliances.

CXA330300 · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:50 pm

TAP
Gulf Air
?????????????

keno · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:55 pm

I doubt we'd see TAP and Portugalia in the same alliance.

CarbHeatIn · Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:57 pm

And the first regional carrier is......Aer Arann Big grin

CarbHeatIn · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:00 pm

Will VS ever join an alliance? Strong cooperation with BD and SQ already although VS does codeshare with CO out of LHR

JGPH1A · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:00 pm

Isles of Scilly Skybus !

FlySwiss · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:08 pm

I'm believing it's

South Africa Airlines in Africa
Air China in Asia
Adria Airways or Croatian Airlines in Europe

MEA-707 · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:08 pm

South African Airways seems a likely candidate. Virgin would be nice as well. Maybe one of the China mainland carriers, China Eastern or Air China. TAP or THY might also be interesting, them being orphaned after the Qualiflyer crumble.

[Edited 2004-06-04 13:11:59]

747400F · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:10 pm

TAP
Air India
Air Baltic or Botnia????

CarbHeatIn · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:10 pm

LOT have already joined STAR

ChrisZRH · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:10 pm

Mea-707, LOT is already member of Star Alliance,
gulf air is likely to join oneworld, as they already operate codeshares with AA

JGPH1A · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:11 pm

SAA's membership has already been announced, hasn't it ?

Guest · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:11 pm

TAP is going to be STAR and Qatar Airways.
EK never was interested in joining an alliance especially when former LH CEO Weber made a joke about expansion of EK.

ChrisZRH · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:21 pm

yes, SAA is already in, never heard something of qatar, but would be nice
TAP is joining also, as i heard, star definately needs somebody in china!

Speedbird747 · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:39 pm

star is becoming overcrowded. Let's see where this will lead in a few years Nuts

backfire · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:43 pm

Almost certainly TAP - it's already said it planned an announcement at the Star conference.

And Portugalia has said that it will go with the same alliance as TAP.

Not Air China - that's on hold until further notice.

Probably SAA, because it's also given a strong indication that it would make a formal declaration.

So my money's on TAP, Portugalia, SAA.

[Edited 2004-06-04 13:52:40]

flumuc · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:43 pm

Could the european reginal carrier be Air Dolomiti?
They have a very close relationship with Lufthansa, using
also LH-flight numbers.

TonyBurr · Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:56 pm

When will South African actually be a member?

afay1 · Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:26 pm

Is there a possibility of Transaero gaining membership?

Rickster · Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:35 pm

i go for Air Dolomiti, Italian regional carrier with strong ties with LH

Adria Airways and Croatian are also candidates

US and South African are already announced

BestWestern · Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:38 pm

Air Dolomiti is becoming a Lufthansa Regional carrier, and losing their own identity, so I doubt its them.

backfire · Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:45 pm

Here's a extra bit of information:

Portugalia is pretty insistent that it's not them - but says that TAP is still a go.

yul332LX · Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:45 pm

Russia? Transaero maybe?

mrniji · Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:46 pm

2. Jet Airways

Really? I thought it is more likely that AI will enter in some years...

EZYcrew · Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:54 pm

Air One of Italy? Already a strong LH partner, and could be strategically helpful after AZ goes bust.

BestWestern · Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:14 pm

Air One is a good one!

Arent TAP and Portugalia getting closer together also?

anxebla · Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:32 pm

In the end, Star Alliance will explode it.Don't you believe me?Let's wait together and see what happen in the next 5 years with Star Alliance.

ScottishLaddie · Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:35 pm

What about Germanwings, they are partly owned by LH?

worldoftui · Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:45 am

Adria have said that they will be joining, or hoping to join the Star Alliance towards the end of this year, or early next year, according to http://www.commercialaviationtoday.com/.

I think Flybe could be a possibility though. I think I am as intrigued as the rest of us.....

Mark

airways6max · Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:51 am

They're announcing it tomorrow, right?

We'll know soon enough.

ChrisZRH · Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:51 am

i also thought about star gettin overcrowed, but what's the point? you now just got more possilities to fly with and collect miles!

scottysair · Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:53 am

Is that something more new carrier to join into Star Alliances this weekend? I thought want to know about with those other airlines to join them.

anxebla · Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:05 am

Chris... try travelling in Buz or First of SQ with FF-miles won with another Star member...
Star is becoming in a real show, not in a reliable air alliance.

airzim · Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:38 am

Wouldn't Tyrolean/Austrian Arrows already a member of Star be considered the "first" regional to join?

ualonghaul · Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:55 am

SAA has to be one of them unless that is a separate announcement. I read in this months Hemispheres that they are announcing the application to join in June? Is that correct?

As a constant star flyer, I am only excited about SAA joining. Star has their bases covered in Asia with Asiana, ANA, Singapore, and in Europe with BMI Austrian Spainair SAS LOT and LH. Africa is the one place that star is not very present in. The addition of SAA would open up many more destinations.

As far as a regional European carrier, how many more destinations is it going to really add? Every decent sized city from Amsterdam to Zurich is already served by Star, how much competition at each airport do we need?

I would hope star would focus more on extending the actual alliance relationship between carriers (so I can upgrade with UA miles on SQ, etc) rather than tack on a hole host of extra members that in large part serve the same cities.

I would expect a small increase in cities served with a large increase in flights per day from the addition of whatever new members they may be.

fastenseatbelt · Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:03 am

Airzim:

Austrian Arrows is a 100% subsidiary of Austrian and therefore already in STAR as is Lauda

adamlaskiewicz · Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:05 am

Air Baltic has been mentioned - a "well connected with SAS" airline unless I'm mistaken so a possible contender to join.

ualonghaul · Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:07 am

Fastenseatbelt-

I think Airzim was saying that Austrian Arrows / Tyrolean / Lauda is already in star, and are regional carriers, so whatever "regional european" carrier is announced, it will not be the first, but Austrian Arrows was. He was not saying that they would be the first, but already are the first.

TAP1972 · Sat Jun 05, 2004 3:11 am

I'll go for TAP, SAA and Portugalia.

TAP and Portugalia have made a kind of Alliance in Portugal and in the past Portugalia joined the same alliance as TAP which was the ex-Qualiflyer Group.

backfire · Sat Jun 05, 2004 3:28 am

Portugalia told me today that they won't be in Star until a later date.

How about Blue1?

CPH-R · Sat Jun 05, 2004 3:44 am

Far out contestant: Rockhopper! They've just recieved a new Trislander, so they'll have the capacity to cope with the rise in pax numbers Laugh out loud

No, TAP (and thus Portugalia) looks like a strong bet, and SAA is most likely the third in the lot.

Otherwise, if PGA isn't interested in joining at this time, perhaps one of SAS' partners would be.

ScottishLaddie,
Germanwings, I believe, is falling under the Lufthansa Regional brand, so I guess they're already in.

Br343 · Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:17 am

Hi,

Probably not PGA-Portugal Airlines, TAP will take PGA in one or two years, next years start the integration of the 2 Airlines, with a Back Office, to arrange all routes.

I really think is a Great option for TAP and Star Alliance, some people are telling that the alliance is too Big, but, WHY?

More Airlines, give more stability to the Alliance, because if some one fall, or get out, the alliance still the bigger, so is a very good point, the Alliance is not dependent from one airline, like other alliances.

What happen to Oneworld if BA get out?

Just died.

Not the Star Alliance Spirit.

ChrisZRH · Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:30 am

Br343 you bring it to the point, excatly what i mean!

Trvlr · Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:41 am

I'm thinking SAA, Air Dolomiti, and TAP.

I don't think a Chinese airline is ready to go for an alliance yet, but when they do, I'm sure the breakdown will be Air China in Star, China Eastern in Oneworld, and China Southern in SkyTeam.

Aaron G.

LFutia · Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:49 am

I dont think its Jet Airways because... you can earn miles and spend them with KL and NW and both of those airlines want to join Skyteam.

My best bet is:
1. SAA
2. Some German or Scandinavian Regional?? Estonia Air? ( so perplexed...)
3. Middle Eastern/ South Asian/ East Asia airline...

ChrisZRH · Sat Jun 05, 2004 5:02 am

1.SAA ( i guess that's for sure)
2.TAP
3. A chinese (hopefully china eastern)

and i guess they will talk about the future of Swiss at the IATA conference!

L410Turbolet · Sat Jun 05, 2004 5:12 am

Several posts mentioned flybe and Germanwings as a candidates for Star. My question is: Is it generally really possible and interesting for a for a low-cost to join an alliance of "standard airlines" - and is it interesting for them to accept lcc.
What would be the benefits for either ones? LCC usually have no FFPs or at least not the type of FFP standard airlines do. How codesharing would work in reality?

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