Star Alliance, the world's largest airline grouping, has added
yet another new name to those it is working with when yesterday Air
China Ltd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with it.
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The nation's flagship carrier is the second Chinese airline in
less than two weeks to announce plans to join up.
"With Air China choosing to join us we've now taken the decisive
step in implementing our strategy for the Chinese market," said
Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance. "This decision truly lays the
foundations for the future pace of Chinese aviation."
Star Alliance and Shanghai Airlines on May 10 signed a similar
MoU under which the alliance assists airlines in sharing
information with other carriers. An example of this could be in
ticketing systems. It normally takes 12 months for an airline to
complete the technical procedures to become a formal member of the
alliance.
The membership of Chinese airlines is expected to be a strong
boost to Star Alliance's expansion as it allows other member
airlines to extend their networks in China.
"In the old days airlines competed against each other," said
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO and chairman of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
"Today the competition is still there but it's now a competition
between
airline alliances." Lufthansa is a founding member of Star
Alliance.
"The 18 members of Star Alliance will enjoy the benefits of
being connected to Air China's growing network, which is obviously
very strong in China and Asia," said Mayrhuber.
As an example Lufthansa is currently only allowed to fly to
three Chinese mainland cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
But with Air China joining Star Alliance the German carrier would
be able to sell tickets for passengers flying from Frankfurt to
Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. Air China would carry
Lufthansa's passengers onward from Beijing to Wuhan.
Three major airline alliances dominate the international
aviation industry -- Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld. SkyTeam
has 10 member airlines and Oneworld eight. China Southern Airlines,
one of the three major Chinese carriers, signed a MoU with SkyTeam
early last year. It is likely to join the global alliance early
next year, the media reported.
Air China said its cooperation with Star Alliance would "be
mutually beneficial."
"With economic globalization and open skies competition in the
airline industry will become more and more difficult," said Li
Jiaxiang, Air China's chairman, at the signing ceremony. "No
airline can create a global network by itself. In order to survive
and develop airlines have to cooperate with partners in various
forms including multilateral alliance cooperation," he said.
Analysts said Star Alliance membership could help Air China in
its international expansion.
"Just as other airlines can connect to Air China's network, they
in turn can benefit from?extensive international networks of
the other members," said Ma Xiaoli, an aviation analyst at CITIC
Securities.
"Air China will also have to improve its management and upgrade
its service infrastructure in order to meet the requirements of
Star Alliance," Ma said. "This is a very important step for Air
China to become a truly internationally competitive carrier."
(China Daily May 23, 2006)
