FLUG REVUE May 2005: Star Alliance is a vital marketing tool

May 2005

STAR ALLIANCE

By Matthias Gründer

It may be difficult for participants in today's complex air travel picture to believe, but not long ago chaos actually reigned both on the ground and in the sky. This was felt especially keenly by frequent flyers travelling around the globe, as their home airlines did not cover every airport in the world. The result was frequent transfers, and not just at airports but also from one airline to another. Just booking such a trip was a nightmare that entailed purchasing a clutch of different tickets and sitting around waiting for long periods.

As passenger numbers grew in the 1990s, this situation became intolerable, especially after the aviation crisis caused by the first Gulf War came to an end. In May 1997, after protracted negotiations, Lufthansa and its new partners, Air Canada, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines, agreed to found an alliance to be known by the illustrious name of Star Alliance. From the point of view of the passenger, the major changes were a huge reduction in travel times, one ticket that covered the entire trip from departure to destination, use of the since modified bonus schemes and access to lounges at different airports, irrespective of which airline in the Alliance one is travelling with.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes what had suddenly made air travel so pleasant for the passenger became somewhat more complex to bring off. The flight schedules of the partner airlines had to be co-ordinated and the reservation systems harmonised, especially as regards internet bookings. Route duplications had to be eliminated where passenger numbers only warranted a single aircraft, there were catering problems to be resolved and much more besides.

Naturally this could not all be achieved overnight, but today (and with the number of Alliance members constantly expanding) the partners offer 14,849 daily non-stop flights world-wide, which means that one of the 2,152 Star Alliance aircraft takes off or lands somewhere in the world, at one of 822 airports in 152 countries, every three seconds. Over one-quarter of all passengers who travelled by plane in 2003 were using services provided by the Star Alliance, making it the undisputed leader ahead of the two other major airline alliances, Sky Team and OneWorld.

As well as the original founder members of the Star Alliance, today the other airlines that belong to the Alliance include Air New Zealand, the Japanese ANA, Asiana, the Austrian Group, bmi, LOT, Spanair, Singapore Airlines, US Airways, Varig and TAP Portugal, while South African Airways is expected to join in the near future. On top of this, the system at the periphery has also been expanded, with partners at the regional level including Team Lufthansa, Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines and Blue1 in Finland. These regionals ensure that passengers on intercontinental trips are not carried just between the major hubs but can also fly quickly and reliably to remote airports when necessary.

Airports around the world are in turn responding to this co-operation more and more and increasingly enabling all the partner flights to be handled in the same building so that long transfer times can be avoided. The latest example of this is the new Terminal 4 at Madrid airport, from 2006 the same will apply to Miami, and from 2007 all flights by Alliance partners to and from Warsaw will also be handled in the same terminal.

Despite co-ordinating their plans in this way, the partners remain largely free to make their own business decisions. Only one basic principle applies: no bilateral plans with a member of another alliance, so as to avoid conflicts of interest. On the other hand, the purchase of Swiss by Lufthansa that was agreed on 22 March is viewed as an extremely positive development in the Alliance.

From FLUG REVUE 5/2005

Last updated 14 April 2005

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