15 godina star alliance-a
DESCRIPTION
15 godina udruge Star AllianceTRANSCRIPT
In 1997, Star Alliance as the first global airline
alliance launched a completely new concept in
aviation. We led the field with ideas that improved services for our passengers
globally. Our airlines moved closer together in airports, IT systems were tailored
to enable seamless travel and countless smaller and larger projects made travel
easier and smoother.
There’s been a lot of change in aviation in the last 15 years — a whole business
segment has emerged with the low-cost carriers, we have a new generation
of huge widebodies, we suffered the effects and after-effects of 9/11 and we
have learned to cope with disruption from events as diverse as volcanic ash and
political revolution in our carriers’ home countries.
Star Alliance has remained relevant throughout — for its member airlines, and most importantly, for its
passengers. To maintain our relevance, we must ensure that we remain ahead of the curve, innovating to meet
the ever-changing demands of the global frequent traveller.
Croatia Airlines employees are among over 400,000 staff across the Alliance working daily with individual
passengers to deliver on the fundamental promise of seamless travel. I should like to thank you for your part in
the success story that is Star Alliance.
Mark Schwab, Chief Executive Officer of Star Alliance
Croatia Airlines accomplished one of its strategic goals by
joining the Star Alliance network in November 2004. Joining this
prestigious alliance confirmed that Croatia Airlines operates in line
with the highest international aviation standards and provides its
passengers with comfortable and safe journeys to their destina-
tions.
The Star Alliance network covers regional hubs to which the Croatian market
is naturally oriented, which contributes to increased competitiveness and the
strengthening of Croatia Airlines’ business position. Its membership in the network
enabled the company’s presence on new markets, the optimisation of its flight
schedule and business network, the rationaliszation of costs and a number of
other benefits, such as the use of common know-how and the IT system.
The company’s network products have been improved to bring many additional values to the passengers,
who are provided with services of recognizable quality and standards. In addition to new opportunities for top
quality travels, our customers can choose from a large number of destinations all over the world and use our
common global transportation products.
Its membership in the network enabled Croatia Airlines to strengthen its position as the regional leader in
South East Europe, bringing it additional global recognition through the Star Alliance brand.
Srecko Simunovic, President & CEO, Croatia Airlines
STAR ALLIANCE NEWSCELEbRATINg 15 yEARS
Of ImPROvINg gLObAL AIR TRAvEL
STAR ALLIANCE
ThE bIRTh Of STAR ALLIANCE
STAR ALLIANCE: A Chronological history
1997-1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
gOvERNANCE
INfRASTRUCTURE
MAy, 14: Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines launch the Star Alliance network. OCTObER: vARIg brazilian Airlines joins Star Alliance.
MARCh: Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand join Star Alliance. OCTObER: ANA joins Star Alliance.
MARCh: The Austrian Airlines group, comprising Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways, joins Star Alliance.ApRIL: Singapore Airlines joins Star Alliance. JuLy: british midland and mexicana Airlines become Star Alliance members.
SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance launches StarNet.
NOvEMbER: Star Alliance announces the completion of its fulltime Alliance management Team, the executive body of the partnership.
MAy: Star Alliance business centre opens in Los Angeles (the centre was closed in 2004 as part of creating a stronger centralised organisation). AuguST: Opening of a Star Alliance business centre in frankfurt. DECEMbER: Opening of a Star Alliance business centre in bangkok (the centre was closed in 2006).
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
gOvERNANCE
AWARDS
MARCh: Star Alliance is first to launch a global e-service initiative.
AuguST: Opening of the first Star Alliance lounge in Zurich. OCTObER: Zurich lounge is named among the world’s ten best by forbes magazine.
MAy: Star Alliance launches downloadable timetable. AuguST: member airlines launch comprehensive frequent flyer awards.
MAy: Jaan Albrecht announced as CEO.
NOvEMbER: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in U.S. business Traveller magazine poll.
MARCh: Asiana Airlines joins Star Alliance. ApRIL: Spanair joins Star Alliance.OCTObER: LOT Polish Airlines joins Star Alliance.
JuNE: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in Skytrax poll. SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance selected as best airline alliance by U.K. business Traveler magazine.NOvEMbER: Star Alliance selected as best airline alliance by U.S. business Traveler magazine.
INfRASTRUCTURE
Star Alliance was born on may 14, 1997 with five
founder members — Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS,
ThAI and United. Announced at a ceremony in
frankfurt, with widebodies from the five founder
airlines on display in an iconic nose-to-nose
formation on the ground, the alliance was simply the
biggest tie-up to date in the aviation industry.
A close-formation flyby of the five widebodies
over the airport secured the event a special place in
aviation history.
Star Alliance was conceived from the outset as
a loose cooperation between the airlines involved
— with no intention to underpin this with cross-
investment or other deeper forms of balance-sheet
operation. The focus was firmly on marketing - and
the passenger. The underlying motivation that
customers attracted by this new global network
would fill airline seats and so contribute to profits
was, of course, an important element, but financial
benefits took a backseat to the passenger vision.
The CEOs of the founder airlines outlined a future
where passengers could travel across the joint
network as easily as they would connect across the
route map of a single airline.
global access, seamless service and worldwide
recognition were the Alliance’s three main attributes —
tailored for a target audience of frequent international
CONTINuED ON pAgE 4
At the time, it was ground-breaking: five major airlines forming an alliance that would give passengers access to a global route network comprising over 6,000 daily departures to 106 countries, with the promise of “seamless” global travel and the ability to earn frequent flyer miles wherever they flew.
mAy 14, 1997Widebodies from the five founder airlines — Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, ThAI and United — in an iconic nose-to-nose formation at the joining ceremony in frankfurt.
32
2004 2005 2006 2007
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
AWARDS
INfRASTRUCTURE
MARCh: mexicana Airlines’ membership in Star Alliance terminates. MAy: US Airways joins Star Alliance.NOvEMbER: blue1 joins as the first regional member, followed by Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines.
MARCh: Star Alliance launches Asian Airpass OCTObER: Star Alliance launches the Round the World mileage Calculator. DECEMbER: Star Alliance launches global Interline E-Ticketing.
MARCh: TAP Portugal joins Star Alliance.
SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance finalises deal with Amadeus for common information technology platform. OCTObER: Star Alliance Interline E-Ticketing available across Canada and the U.S.
JuNE: Star Alliance named as world’s best airline alliance in Skytrax survey.
FEbRuARy: Star Alliance carriers start flying from the new Central Japan International Airport (Nagoya).MAy: member carriers open joint ticketing facility at mexico City’s International Airport. AuguST: Opening of Star Connection Centre in munich.
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
gOvERNANCE
AWARDS
ApRIL: South African Airways and Swiss Interna-tional Air Lines join Star Alliance.
JANuARy: Star Alliance launches online interactive tool for U.S.-based travel agents and corporate travel planners/bookers. ApRIL: African Airpass introduced. MAy: Upgrade Awards available on Asiana, TAP and ThAI.JuLy: United Airlines joins Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.DECEMbER: SWISS becomes 10th member to offer Upgrade Awards.
SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance voted best airline at business Traveller Awards.
DECEMbER: www.staralliance.com website relaunch.
JuNE: member carriers collocate in new South Wing, Terminal 1, at Tokyo’s Narita Airport
DECEMbER: Air China and Shanghai Airlines join Star Alliance.
MARCh: Introduction of Common baggage Service facility at Chicago Airport International Terminal. JuLy: Air New Zealand launches Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.DECEMbER: SAS offers members Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.
MAy: Star Alliance celebrates 10th anniversary.
JANuARy: Star Alliance voted best Airline Alliance by business Traveler magazine (U.S.).AuguST: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in the Skytrax World Airline Survey for the third consecutive time (2007, 2005 and 2003). SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance wins best Airline Alliance Award from business Traveller (UK).
MARCh: Launch of visit Southern Africa Campaign.
JuLy: Opening of first lounge in North America at the Tom bradley International Airport in Los Angeles. OCTObER: Air Canada, Lufthansa, SWISS, United and US Airways relocate to the new South Terminal at miami International Airport.
INfRASTRUCTURE
mARKETINg
customers, who were travelling the world to meet
the needs of an increasingly globalised business
environment.
beyond passenger benefits, the CEOs said they
would pool their purchasing power to negotiate
better deals with suppliers for provision of amenities,
facilities, technology and even aircraft. Some
benefits were seen as possible in cargo, but this was
never really the focus.
“Indisputably, the race to form the biggest airline
alliance has a new leader. While a slew of partner-
ships have been fashioned over the past few years,
none provide quite the same punch as the new Star
Alliance,” travel writer Stacy Small wrote in Travel
Agent magazine at the time.
brazil’s varig was already earmarked as the
sixth member, and indeed joined Star Alliance just
five months later in October 1997, by which time
it had achieved the fundamental requirement for
membership of having a partnership agreement with
all the other member airlines.
Within days, press speculation was rife as to which
airlines would join up next.
South African Airways, Air New Zealand, Ansett,
british midland, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines
were all quickly rumoured as future joiners.
The beauty of the Star Alliance association was
its simplicity, and the inherent avoidance of any
areas that might attract antitrust attention and so
present barriers to its going ahead. Its promise of
giving more choice and a better service offer for
customers negated any possible downside for the
consumer. Right from the beginning it was made
clear that the individual airlines would retain their
distinct characters. This was not a merger by stealth.
“The Star Alliance poses no threat to competition
and provides distinct customer benefits,” the
founder airlines said.
The proof of this came both in regulatory
endorsement of the alliance idea on both sides
of the Atlantic, but also in the announcement of
further rival alliances, the now familiar oneworld and
SkyTeam.
American Airlines, british Airways, Cathay
Pacific, Canadian Airlines and Qantas announced
in September 1998 that they planned an alliance
link-up. Oneworld was born on february 1, 1999.
Aeromexico, Air france, Delta Air Lines and Korean
Air followed suit and formed SkyTeam in June 2000.
Today, Star Alliance has more than doubled in size
in terms of destinations served and comprises a
far wider mix of airlines, some of whom are global
players and others that reinforce the network with
regional strength. New members are selected
carefully to meet high standards in terms of safety
and service, as well as for their ability to complement
the existing network.
Alongside the rival alliances, competitive pressures
are now coming from powerful unaligned carriers —
with their policy of global connectivity via a central
hub, such as those in the gulf region — and from
low-cost carriers, which offer a lower base of service
in return for cheap fare deals. In this environment,
it becomes all the more important that Star Alliance
continues to deliver on those early promises of
seamless travel for all of its passengers.
“Indisputably, the race to form the biggest airline alliance has a new leader. While a slew of partnerships have been fashioned over the past few years, none provide quite the same punch as the new Star Alliance.”Stacy Small, TRAvEL AgENT mAgAZINE
54
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
AWARDS
INfRASTRUCTURE
ApRIL: Turkish Airlines joins Star Alliance. JuLy: EgyPTAIR joins Star Alliance.
JANuARy: Circle fare and Airpass Calculator launched. FEbRuARy: China Airpass launched. AuguST: Auto Document Check launched. SEpTEMbER: Turkish Airlines participates in Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.
JANuARy: Star Alliance receives market Leadership award from Air Transport World.
OCTObER: Launches new branding campaign.
MARCh: member carriers move under one roof to Terminal 3 at beijing Capital International Airport and to Terminal 2 at Shanghai-Pudong Airport. JuLy: Opening of Star Alliance lounge at London-heathrow Terminal 1; Carriers move together under one roof at the main terminal of Seoul’s Incheon International Airport.DECEMbER: Opening of lounge at Paris - Charles de gaulle Airport Terminal 1.
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
INfRASTRUCTURE
“The Anniversary is not about holding one,
single event, but rather, to celebrate with
employees and customers at a local level, and
to say ‘Thanks’ for all that they have done over
the past 15 years to make Star Alliance what it
is today,” said mark Schwab, CEO.
At major hubs, local Star Alliance Airport
Teams are planning celebrations in individual
airports. Lounges and check-in areas will yield
surprises for travellers who choose to fly on
that particular day, may 14.
Details of the celebrations and thank yous remain
a closely-guarded secret until the day itself.
Check www.staralliance.com and
www.facebook.com/staralliance
on may 14 and the following days for full
information on 15th Anniversary activities.
Where Star Alliance is today
Star Alliance’s competitiveness can be
enhanced further by focusing on quality.
Its strong frequent flyer Programmes plus
the home market strength of all members
together with a truly seamless product create a
compelling customer proposition which none of
the other competitors will be able to achieve on
a global scale.
This comes as a strong statement from
the very top, as it was defined collectively
by the Star Alliance member airlines’ CEOs.
Together, they believe this is the right recipe to
ensure the Alliance maximises its competitive
strength in an ever more challenging operating
environment.
mAy 14 mARKS STAR ALLIANCE’S 15Th ANNIvERSARyFifteen years ago this month, a dream — to create a global airline alliance made up of the world’s best airlines — came true with the creation of Star Alliance. At the time, the Alliance consisted of five major airlines, and over the last decade and a half has grown five times larger and is now the leading airline alliance.
mARKETINg
MAy: TAm joins Star Alliance. JuNE: Aegean Airlines joins Star Alliance. NOvEMbER: AviancaTaca Airlines and Copa Airlines to join Star Alliance.
AuguST: Launch of brazil Airpass.
JuLy: member carriers move under one roof in the new Terminal 3 at New Delhi International Airport. OCTObER: member carriers collocate at haneda Airport’s new International Terminal.
So what does this mean in practice?
The CEOs have identified a number
of essential services that form
the cornerstone of the Alliance’s
commitment to passengers. Surveys
show that while satisfaction with the
Alliance remains steady at a high level,
passengers still do not always get the
service that they expect. Our joint aim
must be to close this gap.
Serving the Star Alliance Customer
Star Alliance is a collection of
separate airlines that each has its own brand, its
own character and its own rules and regulations.
but for the customer, the airlines are all members
of the same family — that tagline stating that your
carrier is “a Star Alliance member” brings with it a
shared responsibility to help other airlines in the
family to deal with their customers.
While frontline staff may not always be able to
resolve a problem for a customer from another
airline as easily — for example because they
cannot access the PNR — the aim must always be
to give all customers the best possible service, as
has been the case from the birth of Star Alliance.
This may mean working together with agents from
another airline to resolve a customer’s problem.
meanwhile, we are working centrally on changes
that will forge stronger links between customer
service units at the different carriers and in some
cases give greater access to tools, which allow for
a quicker solution to customer service requests.
Through-CheckinPassengers who are flying on multiple legs to
reach their destination should be able to receive
all of their boarding cards and have their luggage
checked through to their final destination, even
when different sectors of their trip are on different
Star Alliance carriers. The only exception is when
this is not permitted due to local regulations in
individual markets.
In practice, about one in five passengers tell us
through-checkin did not work for them on their
CONTINuED ON pAgE 8
2008 2009 2010OCTObER: Continental Airlines joins Star Alliance. DECEMbER: brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance.
FEbRuARy: Launch of middle East Airpass. JuLy: Star Alliance launches book and fly. AuguST: Star Alliance develops Common IT mobile Platform.SEpTEMbER: Circle North Asia fare launched.DECEMbER: meetings Plus product for meetings travel launched.
JuNE: member carriers move under one roof in Terminal 1 at London-heathrow Airport; first alliance to move and operate at Terminal 1 at barcelona El Prat Airport.
76
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
gOvERNANCE
mARKETINg
JuLy: Shenzhen Airlines accepted as future member.DECEMbER: Ethiopian Airlines joins Star Alliance.
JANuARy: All Americas-based member carriers participating in Upgrade Awards.ApRIL: micronesia Airpass becomes a fare product. JuLy: Star Alliance goes mobile with iPhone App. AuguST: farefinder App for mobile devices unveiled.OCTObER: b/E Aerospace to supply Alliance’s long-haul economy class seats.
AuguST: CEO Jaan Albrecht nominated to lead Austrian Airlines. DECEMbER: mark Schwab appointed new CEO.
JuLy: Star Alliance best alliance at Skytrax World Airline Awards. OCTObER: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance at business Traveler Awards.
MARCh: brand campaign for biosphere Connections.
ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT
PRODUCTS
AWARDS
2011 2012JANuARy: The new United brand replaces Continental and United; Spanair’s membership in Star Alliance terminates.MARCh: EvA Air accepted as future Star Alliance member.ApRIL: british midland International’s membership in Star Alliance terminates.
JANuARy: Conventions Plus becomes first alliance convention product to offer online booking.
journey. In an ongoing programme, the carriers
are now working together to iron out data incon-
sistencies in the communications between their IT
programmes which mean that a through-checkin
command gets rejected. Our target is for this to
work 100% of the time.
for frontline agents at checkin desks, there are
three cardinal rules to make sure through-checkin
works for as many passengers as possible:
1) Always check back with the passenger to
ascertain his/her final destination.
2) If a through-checkin fails at the first attempt, try
again! In some cases the first failed command will
have opened the flight for through-checkin, the
second attempt will then be successful.
3) And finally — we know that many of our
systems have manual workarounds for the case
where the first automatic TCI attempt has failed.
priority bag DeliveryOne of the Star Alliance promises to customers
with gold status and other premium customers
is that their bags will be tagged as priority bags
and be first on the belt for collection at their
destination.
In practice, this only works when airline
employees at every step of the way follow
procedure, so that the next people in the chain
can do their part. In summary:
1) bags must be marked up as priority baggage at
checkin.
2) They must be segregated from non-priority
bags in sorting.
3) Loading must follow the rules, so these bags
can be quickly offloaded at the other end.
4) finally, they must be ahead of other bags when
delivered to the collection belt.
Shared belts and other issues sometimes make
it hard for passengers to assess whether priority
bags did in fact make it to the belt first. but even
our own internal monitoring proves it does not
always happen. Correct procedure and virtual
teamwork are critical to success in this area.
Interline baggage handlingTransference from one airline to another is a
risk area for baggage, even across the Alliance.
Tackling this requires different solutions on the
ground, depending on the particular challenges of
the individual airport.
In some locations, Star Alliance has created a
Star Connections Centre whose function is to step
in when a connection is tight and make sure that
a passenger’s bags make the transfer in time.
When time is tight, the standard baggage transfer
process may take just too long, and transfer
directly from one aircraft to another is needed.
for 2012, Star Alliance has selected 17 stations
for special attention on baggage interlining
processes with the aim of improving performance.
It remains important to ensure that as many bags
as possible make their connections
and so arrive with the customer at the
final destination.
Frequent Flyer Recognition
The frequent flyers who attain
gold status with Star Alliance are the
lifeblood of the Star Alliance network.
These passengers need to be made
to feel special at every step of the
way, regardless of which Star Alliance
frequent flyer programme they belong
to.
most travellers in this group are well
aware of the benefits to which they
are entitled — priority checkin, priority
baggage delivery, additional baggage
allowance, lounge access, priority
boarding and priority waitlisting. On top
of this comes the additional feel-good
factor of being “recognised” as a
valued customer, regardless of which
airline the passenger flies on.
Customer surveys show that as an
Alliance we do not always get this right
— they do not feel equally appreciated
on all airlines. So next time you come
across a Star Alliance gold passenger
in the course of your daily work, try
to make him or her feel that little bit
special.
“The Anniversary is not about holding one, single event, but rather, to celebrate with employees and customers at a local level, and to say ‘Thanks’ for all that they have done over the past 15 years to make Star Alliance what it is today.”maRK ScHWaB, CEO, STAR ALLIANCE
98
A snapshot of the 25 Star Alliance members
Total revenue ($US) $160.9 billion* Airports served 1,293Annual passengers 648.8 million Fleet 4,256Daily departures 20,500 Lounges more than 950Number of Employees 411,218 Countries served 190
* all figures as of April, 2012
Star Alliance Member Carriers Fleet Number of Major hub size employees airports
Soon to join
Adria Airways (JP) Ljubljana
Aegean Airlines (A3) Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Rhodes, Larnaca
Air Canada (AC) Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary
Air China (CA) Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai
Air New Zealand (NZ) Auckland, Los Angeles, Hong Kong
ANA (NH) Tokyo, Haneda, Osaka
Asiana Airlines (OZ) Seoul Incheon, Seoul Gimpo
Austrian (OS) Vienna
Blue1 (KF) Helsinki
Brussels Airlines (SN) Brussels
Croatia Airlines (OU) Zagreb
EGYPTAIR (MS) Cairo
Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Addis Ababa, Lome
LOT Polish Airlines (LO) Warsaw
Lufthansa (LH) Frankfurt, Munich
Scandinavian Airlines (SK) Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm
Singapore Airlines (SQ) Singapore Changi
South African Airways (SA) Johannesburg
SWISS (LX) Zurich
TAM (JJ) São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia
TAP Portugal (TP) Lisbon, Porto
Thai Airways Intl (TG) Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai
Turkish Airlines (TK) Istanbul, Ankara
United (UA) Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York (Newark), San Francisco, Tokyo (Narita), Washington (Dulles)
US Airways (US) Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Phoenix
Avianca, Taca Airlines (AVTA) Bogota, San Salvador, San Jose, Lima
Copa Airlines (CM) Panama City
EVA Air (BR) Taipei
Shenzhen Airlines (ZH) Shenzhen
14
29
352
288
102
232
71
81
9
51
13
79
48
54
355
136
104
49
90
156
71
91
179
1,262
340
150
60
59
100
452
1,615
26,000
24,474
10,800
33,183
9,041
6,000
350
3,300
1,095
7,500
5,635
2,887
39,938
12,833
13,929
9,223
7,644
29,700
7,055
24,563
15,599
86,402
32,000
12,000
4,772
5,489
8,000
10