Press Release 2006

Star Alliance member carriers seek legal and regulatory clarification on proposed content sharing by GDS ACAP project to continue

The Star Alliance member carriers are seeking both legal and regulatory clarification on the recently announced content sharing deal between two of the world's four largest Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Amadeus and Sabre.

Commenting on the proposed content sharing, Jaan Albrecht, Star Alliance CEO said: "We are surprised that two GDS are allowed to co-operate in such a manner in a market which already lacks any real competition. We fully support our members in seeking legal and regulatory advice as well as clarification of the practical implications of this announcement and continue to press ahead with our already commenced ACAP project."

As one of the alliance's major cost-down initiatives, the ACAP (Alternative Content Access Platform) project is aimed at cutting the more than 2 billion US Dollars which the 18 member carriers spend annual on GDS fees. Star Alliance has currently signed up three vendors – G2 Switchworks, ITA Software and Lufthansa Systems – who are presently developing the new systems.

About Star Alliance
Star Alliance was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. Star Alliance was voted Best Airline Alliance by Skytrax in 2003 and 2005. The members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, United, US Airways and VARIG Brazilian Airlines. Regional member carriers Adriana Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Overall, Star Alliance offers more than 15,500 daily flights to 842 destinations in 152 countries.

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