Saturday's Wall Street Journal:

ANKARA (AP)--Turkey's flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, is to join the Star Alliance, a move that would give the world's biggest airline confederation new destinations in Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East, the company said Saturday. Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance officials signed a pre-accession deal in a ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday, formally launching the integration process. "Star Alliance will be in a unique position to offer flight connections through what has historically been the gateway to both Asia and Europe," Star Alliance's Chief Executive Jaan Albrecht said.

The Turkish company would become the 21st member of the alliance when it formally joins. The company, with 101 planes, is world's 27th carrier in terms the size of its fleet, and it flies to 131 destinations. The airline, established in 1933 by modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, carried 17 million passengers last year.