20 years of Star Alliance
Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways and United Airlines started a trend 20 years ago that changed the aviation industry.
Today, aviation alliances have become the standard in the industry. The world's largest alliance - Star Alliance, of which Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and SWISS are also members - celebrated its 20th anniversary on May 14. In line with the global trend, its management is focusing on new initiatives for its approximately 690 million passengers a year.
While Star Alliance used to cover "white spots" in its route network with new members, such as Australia or Russia, this is no longer a priority. "There are no longer many airlines interested in membership or Star Alliance is interested in them," says Pedro Heilbron, Chairman of Star Alliance and CEO of the Panamanian airline Copa.
The focus of the 50-strong Star Alliance team, mostly based in Frankfurt, is to transform the organization, implementing more digital technologies to further improve the travel experience for passengers. "We have a strong brand, but many industries, including ourselves, need to adapt Star Alliance in an ever-changing environment," explains Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey
Goh. Technological solutions for even more convenient travel are being implemented, such as faster information in the event of problems with flight operations or the introduction of simpler rebooking processes. Or the "Baggage Hub System", which allows baggage to be monitored and tracked across the flights of the 28 alliance members. Work is also underway on a comprehensive digital platform to provide a better choice of seats with interline tickets, for example. Today, it is often not possible to select a seat on the second flight when traveling with two members. Star Alliance management and the 28 members will therefore have plenty to do in the future. Incidentally, they operate 18,400 flights to 1,300 destinations in 191 countries every day.
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