Star Alliance is the world’s first and largest global airline alliance, holding 17.4% of the market share. It was founded in 1997 by five airlines from the Americas, Europe, and Asia and its headquarters are in Changi Business Park, Singapore.
What is a typical Star Alliance member airline profile, and is this changing?
We are proud to be the world’s first and largest airline alliance, however, there's no standardized member profile. Each carrier aims to gain value from being part of the alliance, focusing on initiatives they could not manage alone. When airlines work together in an alliance, they deliver a unique value proposition to customers that exceeds what individual carriers can achieve. Despite the diversity of member carriers, the shared goal is to leverage Star Alliance for collective achievements.
It's all about enhancing the customer experience across multiple touchpoints. Our vision is to create a connected world with different solutions that enrich customer journeys. We're focused on improving experiences at booking, airports, and frequent flyer stages. Digitalization plays a critical role in this. We are working on making the customer journey more effortless through initiatives like baggage tracking, seat selection, and biometrics, ensuring smooth travel from booking to landing.
How are you leveraging technological advancements to improve the customer experience?
Customers now expect seamless digital interactions, especially via mobile devices. They want more control over their journeys, from seat selection across multiple alliance carriers to baggage tracking. Our goal is to adapt quickly to these demands. We aim to solve issues like irregular operations such as missed connections. Airport transitions can also be minimized through improved technology, ensuring travelers reach their destinations with minimal disruptions. The alliance has resources at key airports to help customers with smooth connections, and we're using digitalization to improve this further.
Airlines are also using sophisticated shopping tools that allow customers to personalize their journeys and buy ancillary services, not just seats. Upselling options and reducing disruptions through AI are also gaining prominence. AI is emerging as a powerful tool to support customers, especially during irregular operations. We partner with several IT companies such as Amadeus, Tata Consulting Services, and Accenture.
Airlines have received a large amount of criticism for their environmental impact. Do you believe it is warranted, and how can airlines make their operations more sustainable?
While airlines contribute just 2% of global emissions, this remains a concern, and all member carriers are working on sustainability initiatives in their own ways. It's an industry-wide priority that our members are addressing through various programs. We allow individual airlines to handle their specific sustainability strategies. We can showcase the sustainability efforts across the alliance but don't directly influence individual carriers' sustainability plans. We focus on touchpoints that make travel effortless, enabling customers to have a smooth journey across multiple carriers while member airlines manage their sustainability strategies.
One of your founding members Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) recently announced it was leaving to join SkyTeam. How significant is this departure, and are there areas where you now hope to strengthen your position?
SAS was a founding member, and we’re sad to see them go. They underwent a financial reorganization and now have new owners with a business strategy aligning with Sky Team. We understand and respect their decision. Despite SAS leaving, our European network remains strong, and we can still compete well with our other members. We have sufficient European partners to cover any gaps and will continue to serve the region effectively.
We continually look for opportunities to provide customers with more options, but we're satisfied with our unmatched coverage. We're watching regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America to ensure we capitalize on emerging opportunities; while market trends shift, we don't see any emerging markets we don't already serve.
What separates Star Alliance from the world’s other major airline alliances?
We are laser-focused on enhancing the customer experience. We have over 50 standards that all members adhere to and we constantly deliver new enhancements to make travel more effortless and convenient for our customers. I joined Star Alliance because of the clear vision to solve customer problems. The aviation industry is complex, and many things can go wrong.
Travel is personal, involving family, business, and cultural exchanges, and the alliance's vision aligns with my passion. I hope to bring more digital solutions that improve customer journeys through technology like AI. Our goal is to make flying more convenient and seamless for everyone.
