Star Alliance selective on accepting new member airlines
STAR ALLIANCE says it is not focusing on expanding the number of airlines in its global network but is instead working on enhancing customers’ flying experiences, particularly with digital technology, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
At the 20th-anniversary press conference in Frankfurt, the birthplace of the airline alliance, on Saturday Pedro Heilbron, chairman of the Star Alliance chief executive board, said it was not closing off new membership.
Jeffrey Goh, who has officially been chief executive officer of Star Alliance since January, said: “Whichever members we add, we’re not going to add for the sake of adding. It has to have additional value.”
He said the most important criterion for membership was value, which in this case means whether the potential member can bring in unique destinations and have a network that is complementary to those of existing members, rather than competing routes.
“If those destinations are already being served by our members today, then it will add very little value to us. It will simply add more competition and complexity within the alliance. So we’re very careful.”
Being part of an alliance has become somewhat of a norm in today’s airline industry, but forming one 20 years ago was something that had never been done before. Heilbron said there was scepticism on how such an alliance would actually work, as airlines were usually known to be fierce competitors.
Yet the Star Alliance has grown over the past 20 years from five founding members to 28 members. The five original airlines were Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International, Air Canada, Lufthansa and United Airlines.
The alliance now has a total of 680 million passengers per year. It serves 191 countries with more than 18,400 daily flights.
Apart from its sheer size, Star Alliance says it wants to differentiate itself from other alliances through its digital-services platform.
With the changing landscape in the travel industry, customers’ demands have also changed. Many expect constant access to connectivity. Airlines are working hard to meet these demands and members of Star Alliance are no exception.
Goh said an example of the digital services the alliance would provide was the ability to book seats digitally for the second leg of travel, as passengers are usually only able to book the seats of their first leg through an airline’s website or mobile application.
Another example is the “baggage hub”, which has become a requirement for member airlines of the Inter-national Air Transport Association. This allows better tracking and monitoring of baggage along its journey.
Goh said the alliance had learned much over the past 20 years about making fast decisions, and adjusting its governance to speed up decision-making. He said the organisation was more nimble now than it was 20 years ago.
