The faces were happy, after 3 days of debates, meetings and press conferences. I know it because I was there. And it was my first time in Chicago also, an amazing city. My first time at a CEB meeting was a great experience. Knowing that I was going to meet some of the top 20 Airlines CEO’s of the world on the year of one of the worst economic crisis in North America was challenging. And you don’t get to see happy faces often when it comes to business results, especially during 2008, and 2009 does not look better.
But the Star Alliance’s CEB (photo) managed things well and their yearly results were really good. In a year full of bad news and broken expectations, the Star Alliance’s CEB gathered in Chicago and disclosed its revenue increase: 12.5% year-on-year increase in flown revenue.The increase is due mainly to the Star Alliance corporate plus targeted growth strategy which yielded good results.
Star Alliance Corporate Plus is an exclusive offer aimed at international “blue chip” customers with global or regionally managed travel programmes. With Star Alliance Corporate Plus, corporations or their travel management firms can contact the sales teams of any Star Alliance member carrier to work out a plan that takes advantage of the alliance’s collective network and service benefits and allows them to book and manage corporate travel seamlessly.
In flown revenue terms, this represents a rise from €2.4 billion to €2.7 billion. At the same time the number of agreements grew by three per cent to 97.
Jaan Albrecht, Star Alliance CEO commented that the results for Star Alliance Corporate Plus prove that the strategy of targeted growth – concentrating on the right accounts rather than just focusing on growing the number of contracts – has paid off and that these results will allow the organization to quickly adapt to the changing travel needs of corporate customers, during a challenging economic time. Those weren’t the only good news for the Alliance. On October 08 Brazilian TAM joined the alliance and during the CEB meeting in Chicago, the CEOs have also voted to accept the application of Brussels Airlines to become a future member of the alliance.
Brussels Airlines is the Belgian airline offering the widest choice of flights to and from the “capital” of Europe. With a fleet of 45 aircraft the airline operates some 300 daily flights to 55 European airports and 15 African destinations. Through its membership in Star Alliance, Brussels Airlines will be able to offer its passengers a variety of benefits. On the network side for instance, the airline will be able to offer its passengers seamless travel across the Star Alliance network which will expand to cover 1,074 destinations in 174 countries.
Back in October 09, the Chief Executive Board (CEB) of Star Alliance has unanimously voted to accept Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines, the largest carrier in South America, as a future member.
“Thanks to TAM, Latin America will no longer be a white spot but rather a hot spot on our world map,” said Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance, at the official joining announcement in São Paulo. “We are very proud having TAM as a future member; their decision to join Star Alliance clearly reflects the ongoing importance of alliances today,” continued Albrecht.
Brazil, as the continent’s economic powerhouse, is the largest and most important market for business and leisure travel in Latin America. With a market share of 20 per cent (73.9 per cent among Brazilian carriers), TAM has the largest portion of international travel to and from Brazil and is also the largest network operator on the continent. This clearly fits Star Alliance’s strategy of maintaining its status as the leading alliance for the high-value international traveller. Jaan Albrecht: “We are talking about a country and a region of the world which cannot be ignored – as a global airline alliance we need to be present where it counts. TAM will make us the leading alliance in terms of capacity offered within Brazil and Latin America,” Albrecht added.
With 116 aircraft, TAM currently flies to 42 domestic and 16 international destinations thereby operating the largest as well as one of the youngest fleets – the average aircraft age is 5.9 years – of all Latin American airlines. TAM already has codeshare agreements with Star Alliance member carriers Air Canada, Lufthansa, TAP Portugal and United and will add 36 new destinations to the Star Alliance network. Once TAM completes their integration process – which is expected to take from 12 to 18 months – the Star Alliance network will expand to over 1,000 destinations in 170 countries and offer more than 20,000 daily departures.* This will further solidify Star Alliance as a frontrunner in the alliance world
Paulo Castello Branco, TAM’s Vice President Commercial and Planning, added: “By working together the Star Alliance member carriers, TAM will be able to offer its customers more choice of destinations with better connectivity”.
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I took some time to walk around the City of Chicago and visited the great city buildings, restaurants, monuments, streets, shops, libraries, and parks.
The weather was tough (27F, -9C) but we managed to get around easily thanks to public transportation which is really great, taxis, metro and of course, the use of building inter connecting system, which allows pedestrians to walk through corridors between building while shopping or having lunch. (in the photo with a friend from Brazil who also attended the meeting)
I was also invited to attend a chicago Bulls' game, which is a great experience for any Sport lover.About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. Star Alliance received the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award in 2008 and was voted Best Airline Alliance by Business Traveller Magazine in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and by Skytrax in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
The members are Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 16,500 daily flights to 912 destinations in 159 countries.
Quick Facts:
The members are Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 16,500 daily flights to 912 destinations in 159 countries.
Quick Facts:
• Total of 21 member airlines
• Annual passengers: 499.90 million
• Daily departures: more than 16,500
• Number of employees: 393,559
• Countries served: 159
• Airports served: 912
• Fleet: 3,325