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New airlines partnerships (source:Bangkok Post)

New airlines partnerships (source:Bangkok Post)

Old Apr 7, 2008, 1:47 am
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New airlines partnerships (source:Bangkok Post)

After welcoming Turkish Airlines (THY) as its 20th member on April 1, the Star Alliance is not resting on its laurels but striving for further expansion of its already dominant position in the global airline alliance sphere.

Turkish Airlines brings an additional 31 destinations, mainly in Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East, to Star's network. That raises the alliance's overall global coverage to 18,000 daily flights serving 965 airports in 162 countries.

With Turkish Airlines, Star's share of global air traffic is estimated to exceed 30%, up from 28%, leaving rival groups SkyTeam and Oneworld well behind.

The Turkish national carrier, which turns 75 this year, carried 19.7 million passengers last year, up 23.5% over 2006, with a load factor of 73%. It expects to carry 23.5 million this year.

Egypt Air and Air India are waiting to become full members of Star in July this year and March 2009, respectively.

Star is working strenuously to wipe out "white spots" from its global network by drawing national carriers in areas like Russia and South America.

"We still see white spots in the Star's network and we want to see more coverage," Star chief executive Jaan Albrecht told the Bangkok Post.

TAM Airlines, Brazil's largest airline, looks poised to announce its accession to the alliance by the end of this year, replacing financially troubled Varig, whose membership was suspended in January 2007 because it failed to fulfill membership requirements.

The airline group, which turns 11 this year, also wants to draw a large Russian carrier into the pool as its previous bid to attract the flag carrier Aeroflot was lost to SkyTeam in April 2006.

Aside from Brazil, SkyTeam is wooing an airline in Latin America, understood to be a Mexican carrier, according to industry sources. It is also seeking members in Eastern Europe. In the Middle East, it wanted to attract a major player such as Emirates, but the well-heeled Gulf operators wanted to pursue their own business models.

Star, meanwhile, hopes that Egypt Air will help it become a stronger contender in the Gulf and Middle East markets. "The Gulf [airlines] are pursing different models. So we are not really talking to them. We don't want to build a hub in Dubai. We don't see a need for it," Mr Albrecht noted.

In December, Star recruited two major airlines in China, Air China and Shanghai Airlines. But it has lacked an Australian partner since the collapse of Ansett in 2001. Qantas is a member of Oneworld, which includes British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

As far as the membership and network coverage are concerned, the sky is the limit for Star, which also includes Thai Airways International.

"The trick here is to allow the alliance to continue growing, not putting any artificial cap [on airline membership]. We won't be stopping after integrating Russia, Brazil and Latin America [into our network]," Mr Albrecht said.

Star's chief said the alliance's network growth is a response to passenger demand. "It is our corporate and individual customers who tell us where they want to see more coverage," he explained, adding that Star was not really worried about size, but more concerned about integration and product quality that passengers are expecting.

"The criteria have always been about the value that new members bring to the entire organisation."

Mr Albrecht ruled out the chance of three global alliances becoming a single group.

"No. Because we want and have to compete, and the customers want competition. We don't want a monopoly. Any commercial activities need to have competition, it helps everybody," he said.
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 2:17 am
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Wirelessly posted (probably driving while typing: BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Great aricle. You might consider posting a link to the original article with just the first couple paragraphs in order to not violate ft tos or copyright laws.

Wonder who the Mexican carrier will be?
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 10:54 am
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Originally Posted by Mrp Alert
Wirelessly posted (probably driving while typing: BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Great aricle. You might consider posting a link to the original article with just the first couple paragraphs in order to not violate ft tos or copyright laws.

Wonder who the Mexican carrier will be?

Could it be Mexicana?? But since Aeromexico is a member, why add another large Mexican airline??
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 10:56 am
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Wonder who the Russian carrier will be now that there's nothing but dross left
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 11:02 am
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Originally Posted by skrosvik
Could it be Mexicana?? But since Aeromexico is a member, why add another large Mexican airline??
If they go for Mexicana - and why would they? - will it be be the first time a global alliance takes in an airline someone else kicked out previously?

Last edited by apoivre; Apr 7, 2008 at 11:20 am
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 12:11 pm
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Originally Posted by skrosvik
Could it be Mexicana?? But since Aeromexico is a member, why add another large Mexican airline??
Aeromexico is already a member of Skyteam. I am not familiar enough with the aviation industry down there to even guess who other than Mexicana might be a player. Those are the 2 big ones.
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 12:24 pm
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Originally Posted by apoivre
Wonder who the Russian carrier will be now that there's nothing but dross left
Lufthansa is in talks with AirUnion, i.e. KrasAir, Domodedovo Air, ...
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 12:27 pm
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Originally Posted by apoivre
Wonder who the Russian carrier will be now that there's nothing but dross left
Something tells me S7, since Transaero is turning increasingly charter-like and Air Union is not fully formed yet, and once will be, most likely will look toward OneWorld, largely due to them owning Malev.
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 12:49 pm
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Originally Posted by asnovici
Something tells me S7, since Transaero is turning increasingly charter-like and Air Union is not fully formed yet, and once will be, most likely will look toward OneWorld .
I think you have that the wrong way around - S7 have been suggested as a potential OW member


http://theairlineblog.blogspot.com/2...-s7-joins.html

both LH and OS have ties to AiRUnion

http://www.aua.com/be/eng/austrian/AIRUnion/

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html...07/701/HOM&s=0

and I believe that OS has publicly committed to helping the airline become 'alliance-worthy'

I think that the tie-up between AiRUnion and Malev is a bit of a ( sorry , I couldn't help myself ) red herring
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Old Apr 7, 2008, 3:01 pm
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So who's the Leftover Alliance now?

Thanks for the links. I heard all of these stories (and you missed the one on FV going to join one of the three alliances pretty soon). I just meant none of these airlines are exactly alliance material. Granted, neither was SU back when LH and AF were courting them - but none of these even come close to where SU stood back then. Or where MS stood when they started talking to Star, for that matter (not to offend anyone, but that's the worst example I can think of right now).
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 12:26 pm
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Originally Posted by apoivre
Thanks for the links. I heard all of these stories (and you missed the one on FV going to join one of the three alliances pretty soon). I just meant none of these airlines are exactly alliance material. Granted, neither was SU back when LH and AF were courting them - but none of these even come close to where SU stood back then. Or where MS stood when they started talking to Star, for that matter (not to offend anyone, but that's the worst example I can think of right now).
Actually, I think Skyteam already have the highest quality standard of the three major alliances, in that the worst possible carrier/airport combination is still quite acceptable.
Both of the others include some airlines that are visibly lower quality than their regional competitors (e.g. MA, MS) and some key hubs that you REALLY want to avoid (e.g. LHR, ORD). Skyteam only have AZ in the "low quality" category, and that's in a region which is very well served by the other alliance carriers (and still with a better baggage delivery rate than "premium" competitor BA!).
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Old Apr 10, 2008, 12:41 pm
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Originally Posted by kiwiandrew
I think you have that the wrong way around - S7 have been suggested as a potential OW member


http://theairlineblog.blogspot.com/2...-s7-joins.html

both LH and OS have ties to AiRUnion

http://www.aua.com/be/eng/austrian/AIRUnion/

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html...07/701/HOM&s=0

and I believe that OS has publicly committed to helping the airline become 'alliance-worthy'

I think that the tie-up between AiRUnion and Malev is a bit of a ( sorry , I couldn't help myself ) red herring
Very interesting, thanks for the links.

My only comment would be that the tie-up between AirUnion and Malev is quite real, yet behind the scenes. The guy who owns AirUnion also owns 99% of Malev (through an intermediary company), thats why Malev, for instance, is interested in Sukhoi SuperJet. If not for that ownership relationship, I doubt MA would ever look for SuperJet (considering what Hungarians generally think of Russians due to the past 20th century history).

Now, how does that relate to AirUnion's potential entrance to any alliance...I don't know, but you are probably correct, if LH is interested in them, they have more pull then just the fact that AirUnion and Malev effectively have the same owner.
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Old Apr 10, 2008, 2:28 pm
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Originally Posted by asnovici
Very interesting, thanks for the links.

My only comment would be that the tie-up between AirUnion and Malev is quite real, yet behind the scenes. The guy who owns AirUnion also owns 99% of Malev (through an intermediary company), thats why Malev, for instance, is interested in Sukhoi SuperJet. If not for that ownership relationship, I doubt MA would ever look for SuperJet (considering what Hungarians generally think of Russians due to the past 20th century history).

Now, how does that relate to AirUnion's potential entrance to any alliance...I don't know, but you are probably correct, if LH is interested in them, they have more pull then just the fact that AirUnion and Malev effectively have the same owner.

sorry , my comment wasn't meant to suggest that I did not believe that there is a link between Malev and AirUnion , I am well aware of the equity relationship , I just meant that I dont think you should place too much emphasis on it when trying to work out Airunions future direction - especially after this article appeared

http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=12339

...The plan also includes a schedule to join Star Alliance, where Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are its mentors. "If we have our own AOC, have implemented IOSA safety standards, etc., in about three years time AiRUnion would be ready to join Star Alliance," Baldauf revealed....
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