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.