Star Alliance Prepares For Fifty Members
Jens Flottau/Frankfurt jflottau@freenet.de
The Star Alliance is preparing a new corporate governance scheme that will prepare the group for a massive increase in members.
The airline group has launched an "alliance of the 50s" initiative that is supposed to enable Star to increase the number of airline members from the current 21 to up to 50. The scheme is to be through the final stages of negotiations in June, and is understood to be presented in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the IATA World Air Transport Summit.
Star Alliance is adding more members, such as Air India and TAM Brazil, but it is talking to additional candidates that, according to industry sources, include Copa and Taca in Central America where the alliance has no local member yet.
In its earnings announcement last week, Copa noted that Continental has announced its intention to leave SkyTeam effective Oct. 24, and "due to the long-standing alliance relationship with Continental, and in order to ensure Copa remains fully aligned with Continental on a number of important joint initiatives, Copa will also be leaving SkyTeam concurrently with Continental on Oct. 24, 2009."
Star CEO Jaan Albrecht says that internal workings of the group have evolved as the alliance grew, but that further enhancements are needed. He declined to be more specific about details of the new governance as parts of it are not finalized yet.
According to Albrecht, Star is currently not talking to any carriers in the Arab Gulf region about joining. "We don't want to support any artificial hub systems in the desert", Albrecht said at the annual meeting of Germany's aviation press club LPC. But he believes that Gulf carriers will show a stronger interest over time in joining alliances as their own sources of financing dry up.
Albrecht believes that there will continue to be three alliances, even if the proposed American Airlines/British Airways joint venture does not get regulatory approval. But in his view, there could be more movement of carriers between the alliances and maybe even a fourth group emerging.
Photo: Star Alliance
