Star Alliance is the world's first and largest airline alliance, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (near Frankfurt Airport).^[2] Founded in 1997, its name and emblem represent the five founding airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines. Star Alliance has since grown considerably and now has 25 member airlines with more than 21,100 daily departures combined. These flights reach 1,290 airports in 189 countries, with an annual passenger number of 607.5 million.

The CEO of the alliance is Mark Schwab,^[1] replacing former CEO Jaan Albrecht who was named the winner of the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished leadership in the field of commercial aviation in 2010.^[3]

Membership history

19971999: The first three years

On 14 May 1997, five airlines from three continents United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Thai Airways International and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) came together to launch Star Alliance.^[4][5] The newly established alliance selected Young & Rubicam Advertising to increase awareness of the new alliance, with a budget of $25 million, 18 million.^[6] The five airlines shared the traditional star logo from the beginning with the five points representing the five founding airlines. The alliance also adopted their first slogan "The Airline Network for Earth",^[4] with the goal being to have "an alliance that will take passengers to every major city on earth".^[5]

Varig joined the Star Alliance network,^[4][7] on 22 October 1997 making it the alliance's first "new" member and its gateway airline into South America.

In March 1999, Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand both became members of the alliance, connecting the alliance to Australia and the Pacific.^[8] Upon the joining of the two carriers, Star Alliance served 720 destinations in 110 countries with a combined fleet of 1,650 aircraft.

Toward the end of 1999, The Austrian Airlines Group decided to apply for membership in the Star Alliance network, planning to become a full member in the new millennium. Finally, in October 1999, All Nippon Airways joined the alliance and became the group's second Asian airline.^[9]

2000: New millennium and major expansion

The new millennium started off with the significant admission of The Austrian Airlines Group (Austrian Airlines, Tyrolean Airways and Lauda Air) in March. Singapore Airlines joined the next month as a full member on 1 April^[10][11] giving the alliance an even stronger foothold in the Asian market. On 1 July BMI (British Midland) and Mexicana Airlines simultaneously joined Star Alliance, bringing the total membership tally up to 13.^[12] The joining of BMI made London Heathrow the only European hub with two competing alliances. During the year, Emirates considered joining Star Alliance, but would later opt not to join.^[13] The same year, now defunct BWIA West Indies Airways who had entered an alliance with United Airlines considered becoming a member. BWIA however never joined the alliance.^[14] In 2000 the alliance also opened its first three business centers in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, and Bangkok as well as announcing the completion of its fulltime Alliance Management Team (AMT) the executive body of the partnership.

In 2001, Ansett Australia left the alliance due to bankruptcy which subsequently handed over a majority of the Australian market to Qantas, a rival Oneworld Alliance member. During this year Star Alliance also announced the appointment of their new CEO, Jaan Albrecht.

2003 saw the admission of three new airlines to the alliance. Asiana Airlines joined on 1 March,^[15] LOT Polish Airlines, the official flag carrier of Poland, joined in October,^[16] and Spanair, Spain's low cost carrier, joined on 1 May.^[17]

In 2004 Croatia Airlines, Blue1, and Adria Airways inaugurated the alliance's regional network. US Airways joined the alliance after a one-year joining process which started in June 2003^[18] becoming the alliance's second US-based airline. Mexicana Airlines left Star Alliance after deciding not to renew a codeshare deal with United Airlines and later joined Oneworld.

In 2005, Star Alliance invited Lineas Aereas Azteca to join the alliance in mid-2007. Star Alliance saw the admission of TAP Portugal on 14 May, thereby adding new African destinations to Star Alliance's network.^[19][20] After merging with US Airways under the US Airways name, America West Airlines joined, working through US Airways original membership, but would never be considered an individual member.

In 2006 South African Airways became the first African airline to become a Star Alliance member, as well as raising the alliance's membership tally up to 18.^[21] On 7 April, at a ceremony in Zurich, Swiss International Air Lines joined the alliance^th.^[22]

Tenth anniversary

In May 2007, Star Alliance and its members celebrated the alliance's 10th anniversary. During the previous decade, Star Alliance had grown from a membership of five airlines to include 17 carriers around the world.^[23] Each day the Star Alliance's members have a combined daily departure of 16,000 to 855 destinations in 155 countries, serving 406 million passengers annually. As part of the celebration and to increase awareness of the alliance, Star Alliance launched a global consumer promotion.^[24] Prizes included round-the-world air tickets, the paying of related expenses, as well as monetary prizes.^[25] On the same day Star Alliance also launched the Biosphere Connections, a partnership with three international organisations UNESCO, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Ramsar Convention On Wetlands to promote environmental sustainability.^[23][26] To cap off its first decade of operation, the alliance was voted by Skytrax as the Best Airline Alliance at the 2007 World Airline Survey,^[27] as well as the Best Airline Alliance by Business Traveler.^[28]

Other significant events which took place included the ejection of Varig from the alliance on 31 January.^[30] In addition to this two major Chinese airlines, Air China and Shanghai Airlines joined on 12 December.

20082010: Expansion and 2nd decade of operations

On 1 April 2008, Turkish Airlines joined the alliance after an 18-month integration process since December 2006 ^[31] and became the alliance's 20th airline. EgyptAir, the official airline of Egypt joined on 11 July^[32] becoming the second African airline. The airline joined following its 75th anniversary the previous year, the event which the EgyptAir used to subsequently relaunch its image and brand.^[32]

On 27 October 2009, Continental Airlines became the 25th full member of the alliance after leaving SkyTeam on 24 October. At a joining ceremony in New York City, Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance, said, "Bringing Continental Airlines into Star Alliance has been a truly unique experience. This is the first time an airline has moved directly from one alliance to another and I would like to thank all those involved in ensuring a smooth switch". At the time, it was rumoured that the switch was part of Continental's initial move in its plan of a United-Continental merge.^[33] Brussels Airlines (on 9 December) also become a member.

On 13 May 2010, leading Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines was admitted following a joining ceremony in São Paulo,^[34] thereby furthering the alliance's foothold in South America, which is currently considered by SkyTeam as an important market.^[35] Aegean Airlines, Greece's largest airline in terms of passengers carried, joined on 30 June.^[36] Fellow Greek airline Olympic Air originally intended to also join the alliance if their merger with Aegean Airlines was approved by the EU, but in February 2011 the merger proposal was rejected and as of the moment Olympic is no longer slated to join.

Shanghai Airlines left the alliance on 31 October 2010, due to its merger with China Eastern Airlines, a future member of Star Alliance's rival SkyTeam.^[37] On 29 September, the Chief Executive Board approved Ethiopian Airlines's application for membership, with the airline to become the 30th member.^[38]

As of September 2010, Star Alliance flies to 1,172 airports in 181 countries, with approximately 21,200 daily departures.^[38]

Expansion during 2011 and beyond

After further delay, Air India failed to meet their latest deadline, for having the minimum standards for membership, of 31 July 2011 and as a result Air India's invitation to join the Star Alliance has been suspended.^[39] In 2010, Colombian Avianca & Salvadorian TACA Airlines were invited into Star Alliance.^[40] During the same year, former SkyTeam affiliate member Copa Airlines is also expected to be admitted.^[41][42]

During the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards for 2011, Star Alliance regained the title of best airline alliance^[43] after the award was given to Oneworld the year before. Along with the award for best airline alliance, 26 different awards were also won by individual Star Alliance members.

On 6 July 2011, Shenzhen Airlines was formally accepted as future member. Joining in late 2012 the airline will be the alliance's second member in the People's Republic of China following the departure of Shanghai Airlines in 2010.^[44]

With its entry on 13 December 2011 Ethiopian Airlines adds to Star Alliance's network five new countries and 24 unserved destinations. Then in the beginning of January 2012 Continental Airlines formally left the alliance after finalizing its merger with United Airlines. Shortly after this on 27 January 2012, long time member Spanair left the alliance after suffering financial collapse and ceasing operations. And then bmi also left on 20 April 2012 due to acquisition by International Airlines Group (IAG), a parent company of British Airways, a Oneworld member. Together these consecutive exits brought the total number of member airlines down to 25.^[45]

On 29 March 2012, it was announced that EVA Air would join Star Alliance in 2013^[46]

Member airlines