US Airways: Star Membership

No, it was me who jumped the gun saying it was official when it was not. Me and my punctuation :rolleyes:
Anyhow, I am not really in full knowledge with what happened with ANZ and Ansett but from a competition viewpoint Qantas and ANZ would effectively have a monopoly on NZ domestic and the trans-Tasman routes. But I agree ANZ would of been better off with SIA.

I didn’t jump the gun Saab, I was initially under the impression it was not official. I was just going by what you said: “Then again Qantas has 22.5% of ANZ.” The statement sounds like the deal was done. Anyhow, I hope this doesn’t go through. It’s very bad for everybody involved, except QF, obviously. It’s bad enough NZ allowed Ansett to go under, by their being complete idiots. If they’re hurting so bad, why not sell a similar stake to SIA, like they should have long ago, but was turned down by the NZ gov’t. That would have probably saved Ansett, had it been done at that time. I believe SIA, at the time wanted to increase their 25% stake to a 35% stake, eventually selling back nearly all their stake to the NZ gov’t. I don’t know the economics of the situation, but is QF offering that much more, now?

I would say SAA would look towards Star? Apparently they were considering whether or not to join an alliance in January 2003. They have said that they are “seriously contemplated” joining an alliance and Star has also said it is discussions with several African airlines. With SAA being the largest I wouldnt be suprised to see Star on the horizon.

Originally posted by greekdude1
As far as SAA goes, I believe they have some sort of agreement with Delta, so I see them going with Skyteam if they do join an alliance.

Yeah, but you can also earn LH Miles & More miles on all SAA flights, and I daresay they’ve got some kind of links to a couple of the oneworld carriers, too.

Although I take your point about their location not nescessarily being as lucrative as the middle Eastern Airlines, and the lack of other majors on the Continent.

Jumped the gun a bit there Greekdude, Qantas have applied to buy a stake in ANZ, however, Virgin Blue and regulators are having their say in the matter first before its approval. Regulators and Virgin say that it will kill competition in the Australia-New Zealand market though Virgin Blue has made a concession that ANZ sell Freedom Air and give up check in desks at Auckland.

Anyway there is a few links below.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-qantas25nov25,0,1495825.story?coll=la-headlines-business

http://www.noqantas.co.nz/

Saab, when did QF ‘officially’ take that 22.5% stake in NZ? I just came back in here a couple of weeks ago, and prior to that was probably last fall, or something. At that point, QF was still trying but nothing had officially happened. Does anybody have the news link for that? As far as Africa goes, other than SAA, how many other airlines are there that are attractive for alliances, TunisAir, Air Alegerie (I more or less view EgyptAir as Middle-Eastern) ? The same goes for destinations. Other than Cape Town/Jo-burg, as long as 1 or 2 of your current members (In Star’s case LH) serve it, you really don’t need an airline that’s going to be based there. The Middle East, on the other hand, is much more attrative. Qatar, Gulf, Emirates, Saudi Arabian, are all very attractive for alliances not only for the airlines themselves, but also their relative location. Having a hub in the MiddleEast, potentially serves as a bridge between Europe and S.East Asia. Especially with Emirates serving Perth nonstop from Dubai, you effectively eliminate Singapore or Bangkok in order to reach the S. Pacific. You can potentially do that with any of the aforementioned air carriers. As far as SAA goes, I believe they have some sort of agreement with Delta, so I see them going with Skyteam if they do join an alliance.

Originally posted by greekdude1
The Middle-East is the only missing link for Star.

Africa? :confused:

what are the chances of, say, SAA joining Star? Or are they more liekly to hold out and see what the other alliances can offer, as no alliance has an African partner, and surely Africa’s biggest carrier would also be an ideal target for any alliance looking for members…

“one of 2 carriers in the S. Pacific, ANZ; the 2 carriers based at the 2 hubs that join that S. Pacific”

Then again Qantas has 22.5% of ANZ. You cannot believe they will both just co-exist considering they would be ferrying passengers to seperate alliances? BA shows no intentions of selling its share in Qantas, therefore you would probably see ANZ going to Oneworld giving them the stronghold in Oceanic regions and the trans-pacific routes compared to Star.

Qatar of Gulf, perhaps Saudi Arabian, as UA currently have a marketing agreement with them. The Middle-East is the only missing link for Star. They have everything else covered. United, USAirways, and the only airline in (Air) Canada in N. America; Mexicana and Varig in S. America; one of 2 carriers in the S. Pacific, ANZ; the 2 carriers based at the 2 hubs that join that S. Pacific w/ Europe, Singapore and Thai; not to mention 2 others that are based in the heart of Asia, ANA and Asiana in addition to Air China now (I think they’re pretty much set in Asia); plus a strong Euro presence w/ BMI, Lufthansa, Austrian, and Spanair. You guys suggest 2 Balkan airlines in Adria and Croatian, I might suggest another in the Balkans, Olympic. OA being a pretty dog$hit airline at the moment in terms of service and economics. But good in terms ofn safety record, pilots, and potential. With the Greek islands being popular tourist destinations, plus their proximity to the middle east, if they were given the correct guidance, they could and should be a profitable airline, like when Onassis owned them prior to relinquishing control to the Greek gov’t (bad move). Nevermind BA tried to do that about 5 years ago when they sent the Speedwing team in there to clean up their act. Didn’t work.

CSA is with SkyTeam so it would not be them. I was thinking along the lines of Croatian or Adria in the future as Star looks towards medium sized carriers.
With Emirates I would very much doubt it as they have said that they do not want to join any alliance. For Star you would turn more towards Qatar or Gulf Air as we discussed earlier.

Nevertheless, I would prefer Emirates as a prestigious carrier to go Oneworld’s way (if they were ever interested), now that would be the jewel in the crown :p

well, they already have Austrian which has a strong presence to the East. Perhaps CSA? Or more South-east or Asian carriers? Emirates would be a nice jewel in the crown.

Yeah it is good for Star, will give them a good advantage with the US destinations plus better access to the Caribbean. Anyone else think some other airlines might be announched as well to join, we know Air China though maybe someone else as well, I am thinking possibly Eastern Europe?

Graci, Hand. 😀

Good summary Greek .

India media was reporting that UA was to join Star? Fantastic, too bad they were one of the founding members. It makes sense for USAirways to join Star, since the parternship they have with UA currently is closer that with the rest of the Star members have with United, when it comes to bonus mileage and other perks. Also, UA has a very strong West Coast and Coast to Coast presence whereas US is the strongest carrier on the North/South East Coast routes. They have very little route overlap. As far as those 2 guys merging? Won’t happen. They already tried that, 3 years ago, and it got shot down. Air China joining makes sense because they’ve had close relations with LH in recent years, and there have been rumors for a while that they would join. Are far as Star getting too big, is there a benchmark for the size of alliances? The bigger an alliance, the more they can help each other out and gain revenue from one another. For instance, UA doesn’t fly to Greece, but LH does. Why should UA yeild revenue to DL to fly me to Greece, when LH can? As far as service lacking? I completely disagree. That is up to the individual carrier. Just because one airline in Star like Singapore is top 2 or 3 every year in service, and UA isn’t, doesn’t mean SIA’s service is going to start slipping. Lastly, Bloomberg conveniently neglected to mention UA’s 3 ‘other’ hubs, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington’s Dulles.

star in my opinion is way to big now. we know they dominate the market, but the bigger you are the harder you fall.

also the service tends to lack when you have a group that big.

I wonder if a mega merge between United and US Airways is in the offing? Delta, Northwest and Continental already have agreements in place. It could be the begining of a US majors consolidation.

From Bloomberg:
US Airways Group Inc., the dominant carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, and Air China may be invited to join the Star Alliance, the largest grouping of airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, a founding member, said yesterday.

US Airways, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization March 31, applied for membership in Star when it formed a marketing and service partnership last year with United Airlines, also a founding member of the alliance.

Star and similar alliances allow carriers to sell tickets on one another’s flights. The carriers also can display schedules and fares in travel-agency and Internet reservation systems and make it appear that all the flights on a route are offered by all airlines in the alliance.

The partnerships are designed to help travelers going from, say, Indianapolis, to Istanbul, Turkey. US Airways could issue a single ticket, with the passenger transferring through its hub in Philadelphia to another US Airways flight to Frankfurt, where Lufthansa would pick up the passenger for the flight to Turkey.

The chief executive officers of the current 16 Star Alliance members are likely to discuss whether to invite US Airways and Air China at a meeting in Washington on May 30, said a Lufthansa spokeswoman, Sandra Kraft. There may not be a decision at the meeting, she said.

Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the chief executive-designate of Lufthansa, “has said it would make sense for US Airways to join Star Alliance, as their network is complementary to that of United,” Kraft said. “But it’s not up to any one airline to make such a decision,” she said.

United has hubs in Denver and Chicago, while US Airways has hubs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C.

Kraft said Lufthansa had been sharing routes with Air China, China’s largest carrier, for more than two years, and that the airline would be a good partner.

ahh ok so its US Airways…Indian media was reporting UA will join Star!:D