Star Alliance CEO: Member airlines don’t strive for ‘homogeneous’ service
Several years before taking over as CEO of Etihad Airways, James Hogan was a senior executive at British Midland International, a small, now defunct, UK airline and one of the earliest members of Star Alliance. “It’s like being in a Catholic Irish family with 10 kids,” Hogan once said, describing the experience of attending alliance meetings with executives from other airlines. “If you are at the end of the table, it’s like, ‘Can you pass the beans?’” The idea of airline alliances was hatched a couple of decades ago, partially as an opportunity to make travel more seamless for customers. Star Alliance was first of the three major global alliances to form, starting in 1997 with Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways, and United Airlines. In Star, like its competitors, OneWorld and SkyTeam, passengers are supposed to be able to use their frequent flyer miles on any airline, and they should have a cohesive travel experience, when flying two or more Star Alliance carriers on the same itinerary. Elite frequent flyers also receive reciprocal perks across all airlines. The system works most of the time, though travelers sometimes report that some carriers do not make cross-airline travel as seamless as they should. In some respects, that’s not a surprise. As the Star Alliance has grown — it now has 28 member airlines, based on every continent except Australia — it has been tough to keep carriers focused on the same strategy. Sometimes, every airlines wants something different, and they’re not necessarily equal partners. Some airlines, like Lufthansa, United, and Air Canada, are much larger and more powerful than newer members like LOT Polish, Aegean, Eva Air, and Tap Portugal. As Etihad’s Hogan alluded to, sometimes smaller players feel they’re not as involved in decision-making. For the past five years, the job of driving consensus among member airlines has fallen to Mark Schwab, the CEO of Star Alliance. Schwab is retiring at the end of December. Story is an exit interview discussing the challenges of running Star Alliance, and the alliance’s plans for the future.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-12-13/star/star-alliance-ceo-member-airlines-don2019t-strive-for-2018homogeneous2019-service
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Star Alliance CEO: Member airlines don’t strive for ‘homogeneous’ service
Several years before taking over as CEO of Etihad Airways, James Hogan was a senior executive at British Midland International, a small, now defunct, UK airline and one of the earliest members of Star Alliance. “It’s like being in a Catholic Irish family with 10 kids,” Hogan once said, describing the experience of attending alliance meetings with executives from other airlines. “If you are at the end of the table, it’s like, ‘Can you pass the beans?’” The idea of airline alliances was hatched a couple of decades ago, partially as an opportunity to make travel more seamless for customers. Star Alliance was first of the three major global alliances to form, starting in 1997 with Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways, and United Airlines. In Star, like its competitors, OneWorld and SkyTeam, passengers are supposed to be able to use their frequent flyer miles on any airline, and they should have a cohesive travel experience, when flying two or more Star Alliance carriers on the same itinerary. Elite frequent flyers also receive reciprocal perks across all airlines. The system works most of the time, though travelers sometimes report that some carriers do not make cross-airline travel as seamless as they should. In some respects, that’s not a surprise. As the Star Alliance has grown — it now has 28 member airlines, based on every continent except Australia — it has been tough to keep carriers focused on the same strategy. Sometimes, every airlines wants something different, and they’re not necessarily equal partners. Some airlines, like Lufthansa, United, and Air Canada, are much larger and more powerful than newer members like LOT Polish, Aegean, Eva Air, and Tap Portugal. As Etihad’s Hogan alluded to, sometimes smaller players feel they’re not as involved in decision-making. For the past five years, the job of driving consensus among member airlines has fallen to Mark Schwab, the CEO of Star Alliance. Schwab is retiring at the end of December. Story is an exit interview discussing the challenges of running Star Alliance, and the alliance’s plans for the future.<br/>
