Press Releases 2007

10 Years Star Alliance The Way The Earth Connects

As part of its 10th Anniversary, the Star Alliance network is today introducing a new brand positioning, reflecting the changes in customer expectations on an airline alliance.

When the concept of an airline alliance was first introduced ten years ago, the main emphasis was in offering the customer a wider choice of flight connections by providing more choice than a single airline could on its own.

“We have been known as 'the airline network for Earth', a motto which has served us well for the past 10 years”, said Philip Saunders, Vice President Commercial, Star Alliance. “This was key in reinforcing the benefits of our original customer proposition, basically communicating the breadth and strength of our network, coupled with the frequent flyer benefits which our travellers have come to appreciate over the last 10 years.”

However, over time, customer demands and expectations have changed. This fact is underlined by the results of recent world-wide customer focus groups conducted by the Star Alliance network, from which one common message from the customer was deducted: “recognise and treat me superbly wherever I am in the world”.

More precisely, customers said that they expect their status to be honoured throughout their entire journey, have an easy travel experience, receive consistent quality and be offered enhanced Frequent Flyer Programme (FFP) benefits and all of these across a global network.

“These results made it clear to us that we needed to adapt our brand positioning, in order to better reflect of the expectations of our customers. With 'The way the Earth connects' we would like to emphasis connectivity on three levels: functional, emotional and geo-political”, commented Philip Saunders, VP Commercial, Star Alliance. “This new brand positioning enables us to move into more emotional territory and become the conduit to making Personal Business Connections, rather than merely providing flight connections.”

The Personal Business Connection theme has been translated into the new Star Alliance brand advertising, which will be rolled out successively over the next months. This focuses on the insight that 55% of communication is through body language, thus giving good reason for doing business in person, face-to-face.

“Elements of body language are subliminal messages the international traveller can only pick up in a face-to-face meeting, enabling him/her to better understand his/her counterparts in international business”, Saunders continued. “We, as the alliance, create the 'reason to fly', which our member carriers then deliver.”

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 was voted Best Airline Alliance by Business Traveller Magazine in 2003 and 2006 and 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 and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Air China, Shanghai Airlines and Turkish Airlines have all been accepted as future members and are expected to join Star Alliance soon. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 16,000 daily flights to 855 destinations in 155 countries.

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